Humanoid Robots

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Thursday that Tesla cut the memory specifications on its next-generation Optimus robot chips to scale production, after Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said humanoid robots could require hundreds of gigabytes of memory and storage each. In a post on X, Musk said Tesla cut the AI5 chip's memory in half to 72GB and the AI6 chip's memory by a third to 144GB, calling it the only way to get enough volume for Optimus production and saying it greatly reduces cost. He added that the cuts should have a negligible effect on Optimus performance, as memory bandwidth is a bigger limiting factor than total memory capacity. On Micron's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Mehrotra said humanoid robots are expected to need more than 200 gigabytes of memory and multiple terabytes of storage per unit, similar to autonomous vehicles, and that physical AI could become a significant driver of memory and storage demand by the end of the decade. Tesla has reportedly placed its first large-scale component order for roughly 5,000 Optimus units and is auditing Chinese suppliers ahead of production, with the company aiming to eventually build 1 million Optimus units a year.

Zhenyu Technology, a listed company with a market value of 20 billion yuan, announced that Vice General Manager and Board Secretary Peng Yongquan has applied to resign from both roles for personal reasons and will no longer hold any position at the company. As of the announcement date, Peng Yongquan directly holds 98,000 shares, accounting for 0.04% of the company's total share capital. He also holds 98,000 unvested Class II restricted shares granted under the company's 2024 restricted stock incentive plan, also representing 0.04% of total share capital, which will be handled in accordance with company regulations. Notably, Peng Yongquan served as Vice General Manager and Board Secretary at Zhenyu Technology for less than two years. Zhenyu Technology is actively positioning itself in future sectors with two new growth curves. First, in humanoid robots, it plans to build a production base in Thailand with total investment not exceeding 120 million US dollars and annual capacity of 15 million units to meet overseas customer delivery demand. Second, it is extending its precision machining capabilities into satellite manufacturing by establishing a joint venture with Guoxing Aerospace, a leading domestic satellite company. Currently, Zhenyu Technology's market value is approximately 22.6 billion yuan. Until a new Board Secretary is formally appointed, Chairman Jiang Zhenlin will assume the duties of Board Secretary.

BTIG analyst Jesse Sobelson said the humanoid robot industry has split into two largely separate product classes, with half-size systems, mostly Chinese, measuring roughly 94–138 cm and weighing 12–40 kg, and full-size machines generally standing 165–190 cm tall and weighing 47–90 kg. BTIG estimates that major players Unitree and AgiBot had built approximately 31K humanoids through June, of which only about 9.8K, or 32%, were full-size units of any type, and full-size bipeds represented only about 13% of cumulative production. Sobelson warned that industry shipment figures can be misleading if interpreted as evidence of broad adoption of human-scale robotic labor, since many of the estimated +40K cumulative shipments through mid-2026 were smaller, lower-cost Chinese units rather than industrial-grade humanoid bipeds. Hangzhou-based Unitree's smaller R1 and G1 products are priced approximately from $4,900 to $21,500 depending on configuration, and BTIG expects Unitree's 2026 shipments to at least double from around 6,000 in 2025, while the company plans for an annual capacity of 30K units. Tesla is the major potential challenger to the current half-size dominance, with BTIG saying Tesla anticipated Optimus production at Fremont later in 2026 but warned that initial output would be slow because the new line includes about 10K unique parts; Sobelson views Tesla, along with Figure, 1X, and Boston Dynamics, as the key players if there is to be a future shift toward full-size systems.

A new study from the AI company Anthropic suggests it will take 40 years for robots to replace just 10% of job tasks if robot prices decline along past trends, a timeline that clashes with the more bullish scenarios of Nvidia and Tesla. At CES in January 2026, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted a coming "ChatGPT moment" for robotics in the form of agents, self-driving cars, and humanoid robots, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the company's Optimus robot will go on sale as early as next year and envisions a future where every household has a robot. A Morgan Stanley research report from 2025 forecasts that the market for humanoid robots could surpass $5 trillion by 2050, with adoption likely to accelerate in the late 2030s on improved tech, a friendlier regulatory environment, and popular support. The Anthropic report argues that beyond price, factors including capabilities, preferences, and regulations pose further barriers to robot automation, and Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk echoed that "even under aggressive projections, widespread physical labor displacement will take decades." The disparity underscores the tension between the rapid pace of software development and the slow progress of hardware, leaving open whether robots will become commoditized gadgets or premium products with constrained supply.

FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem, trading as FFR, is pursuing a proposed all-stock acquisition of Faraday Future Intelligent Electric's EAI Robotics business valued at approximately $200M. FFAI's robotics business spans 24 products across three robot forms and five product series, with cumulative shipments of 552 units through August. The business generated approximately $1.52M in cumulative revenue and reported an average gross margin of about 30.9% for its four-core full-stack AI robotics products in the second quarter. The proposed deal remains subject to due diligence and approvals, with robotics revenue projected at $7.1M in 2026 and $45.17M in 2027. Shares of FFR fell 1.6% in after-hours trading Thursday to $1.20.

Wall Street's bearish stance on Tesla is shrinking even as the stock sits down 21% so far this year, with sell ratings now at 13.1% of 61 analyst recommendations, the lowest share since April 2023 and down from 23.3% in January. That shift does not signal broad optimism, as hold ratings have climbed to their highest level in more than two years while analysts wait for Tesla's robotaxi, humanoid robot and other AI ambitions to generate meaningful revenue. JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta cut his price target to $415 from $445 while keeping a neutral rating, and lowered his third-quarter delivery estimate to 482,000 vehicles from 516,000, citing weaker-than-expected deliveries in China and the United States. The result is that Tesla's valuation now hinges more on whether businesses beyond electric cars can produce significant profits. Investors will next watch vehicle deliveries and evidence that Tesla's robotics, AI and autonomous driving efforts can begin contributing to earnings.

Tesla Inc. has lined up $30 billion of new loans and credit lines as the electric-car maker dials up investments in artificial intelligence and robotics. The company said it entered three credit agreements: a $20 billion term loan it can draw on later, an $8 billion line of credit for five years, and a $2 billion line of credit for about one year. The facilities replace a previous $5 billion of line of credit that was set to mature in January 2028, and Tesla said it doesn't currently plan to draw on any of them this year. Citigroup is administrative agent for the new delayed-draw term loan, while Wells Fargo & Co. is administrative agent for the credit lines. Tesla plans to spend more than $25 billion this year to expand its factory operations and its fleet of autonomous Cybercab robotaxis, and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on the company's July earnings call that it should spend on capex as fast as it can without being too wasteful. Under the new credit lines, Tesla has the option to increase commitments by as much as $4 billion, potentially increasing the facilities to $14 billion total.

Investor Ross Gerber has renewed his criticism of Tesla, questioning management's focus on autonomous driving and robotics projects relative to near-term car demand and brand investment, and faulting the company's lack of advertising despite high gasoline prices. Analysts and traders are watching Tesla's upcoming vehicle delivery report, with market expectations pointing to a year-on-year decline. Gerber's pushback does not rewrite the current bull case, which leans on high-margin autonomy, FSD subscriptions and Energy Generation and Storage, but it sharpens the fault line over whether management attention stays locked on long-dated projects like robotaxis and humanoid robots while near-term car demand and brand building go under served. The clearest test will be the upcoming delivery print and what Tesla says immediately after it about demand trends, advertising plans, and autonomy or robotics spending. A shift toward concrete commentary on marketing, order intake and how much capital is flowing to autonomy versus the core auto and energy businesses would pull the balance back toward the bull side.

KCE shares jumped 11.07% to 75.25 baht, up 7.50 baht, with trading value of 2.357 billion baht as of 10:50 a.m., from an opening price of 71.25 baht, a high of 75.25 baht and a low of 71.25 baht. This morning also saw a big lot of 150,000 KCE shares worth 11.89 million baht trade at an average price of 79.25 baht, above the board price. Kiatnakin Phatra Securities, together with BofA Global Research, initiated coverage of KCE Electronics with a buy rating and raised its target price to 104.00 baht, based on a target P/E of 38.1 times, from 67.75 baht previously. It expects net profit to recover 95% year on year to 1.529 billion baht in 2026, surge 110% year on year to 3.212 billion baht in 2027, 69% above market expectations, and reach 4.174 billion baht in 2028. The drivers include the recovery cycle in the PCB industry, the growing electronic content in electric vehicles and software-defined vehicles, indirect benefits from the AI wave that is tightening automotive PCB supply, LEO communications satellites whose revenue share is expected to rise to 16% in 2027 and 30% in 2028 of total PCB revenue, and humanoid robots, with management confirming it is in talks with Tesla, having passed some qualification tests and awaiting final design approval. BofA expects the global humanoid robot market to be worth 100 billion US dollars by 2033, with global shipments growing nearly fivefold from 290,000 units in 2027 to 1.2 million units by 2030. Meanwhile, Sureeporn Teewasuwet, assistant managing director of the securities analysis department at FSS International, sees second-half profit better than the first half after KCE raised PCB prices from the second quarter of 2026 on higher raw material prices such as copper and fiberglass, together with AI-driven PCB demand that is diverting supply. She recommends trading the stock, maintains a target price of 61.00 baht, and warns investors to be cautious in 2027 because new PCB supply will start to gradually come on stream in the second half of 2027.

Elon Musk is having a major week across his companies, with a Starship flight launched, an upcoming Falcon 9 mission, and the unveiling of the Tesla Roadster, but Wall Street is signaling concern ahead of Tesla's delivery report. JPMorgan cut its earnings estimates for Tesla for 2026 and 2027, and other analysts have also lowered their estimates into the delivery report. According to Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi, the delivery number is expected to be weak, and the fact that analysts are cutting estimates even further suggests the report could surprise to the downside and pressure the stock. JPMorgan also expressed concern about what Musk might say regarding capital expenditures when Tesla reports earnings, given the company's aggressive investment in AI, data centers, robots, and the Tesla Semi. The Roadster, which reports suggest may be priced over $250,000, is seen as a halo car meant to drive excitement for the rest of Tesla's business.

Spectrum has begun activating computing power across its network, placing distributed compute capacity within 10 milliseconds of 500 million connected devices in homes and businesses across the U.S. through more than 1,000 smaller owned and operated edge data centers already built into its infrastructure. The company said it is enabling new AI applications with Cast AI, HP and Hydra Host, marking a commercial adoption milestone for its Edge Compute Infrastructure platform powered by NVIDIA. Cast AI, HP and World Wide Technology will join Spectrum at SCTE TechExpo 26 to demonstrate low-latency AI workloads, including a robotics demonstration from WWT featuring a Unitree G1 humanoid robot in Spectrum's booth B335. Cast AI will highlight its OMNI technology integrating NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra-based accelerated computing platforms into hyperscale cloud environments, while HP will showcase HP Z Boost and its ZGX Nano and ZGX Fury AI Stations for enterprise edge AI development. Spectrum also has an agreement with Hydra Host allowing Hydra's AI Factory platform to use capacity owned, hosted and operated by Spectrum on its ECI platform.

Toyota Motor Corporation estimates that modernizing its factories could require about 1 trillion yen, or $6.4 billion, annually from 2028, covering Toyota, group companies, and major suppliers. The company told investors that roughly 400,000 robots, including humanoid and conventional machines, could be needed to replace existing equipment and add new automation capabilities, spanning industrial robots, automated logistics, and human-robot collaboration. Toyota has not committed to spending the full amount or specified how long the investment would continue. The figure would be roughly three times Toyota's FY2026 additions to fixed assets of 1.88 trillion yen, though it includes group companies and major suppliers and is therefore not directly comparable with Toyota's consolidated capital spending. Toyota generated 4.74 trillion yen in operating cash flow in FY2026, and its operating margin declined to 7.4% in FY2026 from 10.0% in FY2025 and 11.9% in FY2024. Hyundai plans to deploy humanoid robots at a U.S. plant from 2028, while Chinese automakers including BYD, Geely and Chery continue to pressure Toyota's joint ventures in China.

Robot.com announced it will showcase its robotics fleet at booth 540 at the NACAS C3X Annual Conference & Expo in Chicago, Illinois, running September 27-30, including a live demonstration of R-noid loading an R-kiwi, the first time the company's humanoid and campus delivery robots have been sequenced together in a campus environment. The demonstration follows extended commercial agreements with both Grubhub and Sodexo. Robot.com has run autonomous delivery on college campuses for over seven years, serving 50+ campuses and 150+ campus restaurants and completing more than 350,000 deliveries through its fleet. Earlier this month the company announced a three-year extension of its Grubhub agreement, bringing autonomous delivery to 10 additional campuses for the 2026-2027 school year and growing active Grubhub deployments to more than 20 nationwide, while in August it announced a seven-year agreement with Sodexo, its largest single enterprise deployment to date, to scale autonomous delivery and robot advertising through R-ads across Sodexo-operated campuses in North America. The campus fleet runs on REMI, the company's proprietary fleet management platform, which also powers R-noid for back-of-house humanoid labor and will soon power R-dog, a four-legged concept robot built to carry large orders, pizzas, and packages up stairs, with commercial campus deployments targeted for early 2027.

SRX Global Inc. announced an update to shareholders on the liquidation of two portfolio holdings and the addition of a new investment in Onconetix Inc. The company said it liquidated its positions in Vistagen Therapeutics, a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, and Greenland Mines, a critical and precious minerals development company. SRX also added an investment in Onconetix, which has previously announced an agreement to acquire Realbotix LLC. SRX said it added Onconetix in anticipation of that acquisition closing, and believes Realbotix's Vinci AI Vision system is extremely undervalued and misunderstood, with multiple potential applications in defense ranging from drones for facial recognition to body cameras. Realbotix uses a proprietary, patented robotic eyeball technology and the Vinci AI vision system, which embeds cameras and tracking lenses directly inside the robot's eyeballs rather than hiding them in the forehead or chest like standard humanoids.

Tesla received a BBB investment-grade rating from Fitch, completing the trio alongside Moody's and S&P, and shares gained to $376.25 Tuesday. The electric-vehicle and physical-AI company expects more than $25 billion in 2026 capital expenditures as it pours money into AI computing, data centers, production lines and AI-powered vehicles. That spending floor represents roughly 57% of the $43.52 billion in cash, investments and equivalents reported for the second quarter. The balance sheet is strong, but the investment bill is enormous, and Tesla's $376.25 share price stands 12.64% above its GF Value estimate of $334.02. Investment-grade status could widen Tesla's financing options just as Cybercab and Optimus demand serious capital, but it says nothing about future borrowing costs or eventual returns.

Morgan Stanley is highlighting SpaceX's growing technology links with Tesla and Elon Musk's expanding artificial intelligence ambitions, describing the relationship as a developing Physical AI ecosystem. The firm said the two companies share technology, talent and infrastructure, with SpaceX contributing areas such as computing and connectivity while Tesla brings capabilities in robotics, energy and manufacturing. SpaceX shares climbed about 1% overnight after falling nearly 1% Monday, while Tesla shares gained about 3% Tuesday. Separately, Grok 4.7 launched Sept. 21, roughly three weeks after Musk's original Sept. 1 target, and Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster said the timing was close enough to view the release as effectively on schedule. The launch is drawing attention to Grok 5, which Musk has targeted for late 2026 and which he has said could incorporate data from SpaceX, potentially giving xAI access to a large engineering and operational dataset. The next catalyst is whether SpaceX announces additional AI infrastructure or commercial partnerships tied to its expanding computing business.

Xpeng is looking to expand its technology partnership with Volkswagen by pursuing similar deals with other automakers and suppliers that could use its EV platform, electric architecture, and software. Volkswagen paid roughly $700 million for a 5% stake in Xpeng, and the company created a strategic commercialization team six months ago to find new partners. Services and other-business revenue nearly doubled in the second quarter, with the segment's margin expanding by 2,150 basis points, while CEO He Xiaopeng pointed to robotics as another major growth opportunity. The same results showed pressure on the core vehicle business: deliveries reached 103,295 vehicles, roughly flat year over year, vehicle margin declined to 12.1% from 14.3% a year earlier, and the net loss nearly tripled year over year. Xpeng's stock has fallen roughly 47% this year, and the number of hedge funds holding the shares slipped from 21 at the end of Q1 2026 to 19 at the end of Q2 2026, with short interest at 5.96% of float as of August 31, 2026.

Simply Wall St lowered its fair value estimate for XPeng to US$19.06 from US$22.36, as updated Street targets for the Chinese automaker now range roughly between US$12 and US$24. JPMorgan, Citi and BofA all kept positive ratings while trimming their price targets into the US$18 to US$24 range, with JPMorgan cutting from US$27 to US$24 and UBS moving from US$18 to US$12. UBS highlighted XPeng as an emerging Chinese automaker in humanoid robotics, pointing to a robotics capital raise of over US$900m at a valuation above US$6.3b as longer term optionality beyond the core auto business, while Barclays pointed to the L03 model as important for second half 2026 results and for XPeng reaching 10,000 overseas deliveries by Q4. On the bearish side, UBS and Barclays flagged pressure on the core auto business from intense competition, supply chain issues, short product cycles and lower than expected Q3 guidance, and BofA reduced its 2026 to 2028 volume assumptions by mid single digit percentages. The revised model also adjusted CN¥ revenue growth to 19.66% from 21.95%, net profit margin to 2.46% from 3.44%, future P/E to 56.08x from 44.61x, and the discount rate to 12.88% from 12.04%.

Humanoid robots are making meaningful progress in autonomy, dexterity and repetitive real-world tasks, but widespread commercial deployment remains a work in progress, according to a report published Wednesday by Citrini Research. After a week meeting robotics labs, engineers and investors across the San Francisco Bay Area, the firm found most humanoid robots remain in development, training and tele-operated demonstrations, with real-world deployments closer to pilots than clear return-on-investment opportunities. The report examined whether robotics is approaching its own ChatGPT moment and highlighted advances from GeneralistAI and Skild AI, along with Figure AI's demonstration involving 250,000 packages, suggesting the field may advance through a mosaic of signals rather than one defining breakthrough. Basic humanoid locomotion is effectively a solved problem while complex dexterity remains more difficult, and simple repetitive tasks are already trainable. Investment in the broader robotics infrastructure is keeping pace: Tesla Inc has been preparing production lines for Optimus, XPeng Inc has launched an automated production line for its IRON humanoid robot, and Figure AI is securing access to up to 100,000 Vera Rubin GPUs from NVIDIA Corp to train the models powering its humanoid robots. The report concluded robotic autonomy is developing along a curve rather than arriving through one decisive breakthrough, with broad generalizability remaining the longer-term goal.

Tesla and SpaceX are seeking a federal ruling that the Terafab name does not infringe trademark rights held by TERA-print, adding a legal fight to the company's planned $16.8 billion chip complex. Tesla filed three Terafab-related trademark applications in May, and the planned Texas operation would manufacture, package and test advanced logic and memory chips for Optimus robots, Cybercabs and SpaceX data centers. Tesla shares slipped roughly 1% to $362.84 on Friday. The stock trades 8.66% above its $333.92 GF Value, indicating investors still pay a premium for Tesla's long-term growth ambitions. The larger question is whether Tesla can turn the $16.8 billion capital commitment into reliable semiconductor output, since bringing chip production in-house adds execution risk around yields, utilization, engineering talent and manufacturing discipline.