Tesla starts Optimus robot production in Fremont as quarterly profit falls 43%
US electric carmaker Tesla has begun producing its Optimus humanoid robot at its Fremont, California factory. Its third-quarter net income fell 43% as spending on AI and robotics rose.
Tesla, the US electric vehicle maker, announced on Wednesday that it has started producing its Optimus humanoid robot at its factory in Fremont, California. The site was previously dedicated to building electric cars. The announcement came in the company's third-quarter letter to shareholders, which also showed that net income fell 43% from a year earlier.
Robots off the line
In the letter, Tesla said the robots coming off this line are the first production-quality units it has built. The company said it will keep refining the hardware and manufacturing process, but believes the current process for Optimus is suitable for a commercial product.
Quarterly financial results
Revenue in the third quarter came to $28.04 billion, slightly below the $28.09 billion of the same period in 2025 and about $200 million lower than the previous quarter's $28.23 billion. Most of it came from EV sales, which were flat year over year at $20 billion. Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles, around 6,000 more than in the prior quarter but fewer than a year earlier.
Revenue from solar and energy storage fell 16% year over year to $2.8 billion, which Tesla attributed to tariff-related customer refunds. The services business, which includes subscriptions to its Full Self-Driving driver-assistance software, grew 33% to $4.6 billion.
Profit decline
Net income was $787 million, compared with $1.37 billion in the same quarter of 2025. Spending on artificial intelligence projects and Optimus weighed on profit, as did lower sales of regulatory credits. The company remained profitable largely thanks to its "services and other" segment, which delivered a record $734 million in gross profit for the quarter.
