Recent developments indicate the possibility of Chinese firms outpacing Tesla in the race to build humanoid robots, according to a report by Times of India.
While billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's heavily publicised humanoid robot, Optimus, has been regarded widely as the pillar of Tesla's plans for long-term growth, China's robotics firm is gaining increasing momentum, with Beijing putting robotics at the core of its strategic plans - a move that could potentially give China the lead in the robotics race.
In a Business Insider exclusive, Musk, who is also circling around other business ventures such as AI development and aerospace production, has long set creating humanoid robots as a key focus, and as a transformative frontier for his automotive and clean energy company Tesla. The report quoted the Tesla CEO saying, '80% of Tesla's value will be Optimus' in one of his tweets on X.
Those are the biggest factors.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2025
~80% of Tesla’s value will be Optimus.
According to the report, Musk said, 'Even the most optimistic estimates that I've seen for Optimus — the Optimus optimist — I think underaccount the magnitude of what the robot will be able to do.'
Meanwhile, in September of 2025, Tesla released Tesla's Master Plan Part IV which revealed Musk's company's strategic vision heavily focused on 'sustainable abundance', combining electric vehicles, energy storage, AI and robotics.
Growth Is Infinite
Musk's vision in robotics technology, which can be read in the Master Plan, is to 'push beyond what is considered achievable', in effect fostering the necessary growth.
'Optimus — our autonomous humanoid robot — is changing not only the perception of labor itself but its availability and capability. Jobs and tasks that are particularly monotonous or dangerous can now be accomplished by other means. In this way, Optimus's mission is to give people back more time to do what they love', the article revealed.
Early in June of last year, Musk announced Tesla becoming a $25 trillion company from Optimus robots, according to a CNBC report. This announcement was made four years after Musk revealed plans to manufacture humanoid robots at an AI event, after which facing scrutiny from robotics engineers who later found that the robots were being operated by humans via controls.
Tesla Optimus Robot’s incredible progress after only 2.5 years. pic.twitter.com/ESTXSofJha
— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) December 2, 2025
As Tesla is yet to start selling Optimus, China might just take the lead and accelerate robot production this year. In an email to CNBC, consultancy Horváth partner Andreas Brauchle said, 'China currently leads the United States in the early commercialization of humanoid robots. While both countries are expected to build similarly large markets over time, China is scaling more rapidly in this initial phase.'
Unitree G1 self-kicked in the groin. during motion-capture martial arts practice.
— Rohan Paul (@rohanpaul_ai) December 27, 2025
When humans move unpredictably near robots, things get risky. A robot can act “correctly” by its code yet still behave dangerously around people.pic.twitter.com/GI4A3QXdzt
'China's push into humanoid robotics development is driven by a combination of addressing demographic pressures, driving the next horizon of economic growth, and strengthening its role in global competition', said McKinsey & Company senior partner Karel Eloot, CNBC's report continued.
One of China's biggest names in robotics, Unitree, has released several models that included humanoids. Debuting this year, the H2, was even presented dancing. Unitree could potentially be valued at around $7 billion.
With 2026 just beginning, Tesla continues to draw attention with Optimus. Elon Musk's vision successfully fuelled a global technological race, and with China standing strong against tech giant Tesla, it shows that there is no monopoly in the tech and robotics field.
