Giga Texas shows Optimus factory work
- Drone footage published April 24 by longtime Gigafactory Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer showed a “Tech Fab” ceremony and fresh foundation work in Tesla’s north campus area tied to Optimus factory construction. - Tesla’s April 22 first-quarter update said preparations for its first large-scale Optimus factory would begin in the second quarter, after converting Fremont’s Model S and Model X lines into a 1 million-unit robot line. - The buildout follows Tesla’s latest earnings update, which tied higher 2026 spending to AI, robotics and new factories as the company pushes beyond cars. (tesla.com)
Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas site now appears to be making visible room for Optimus, the humanoid robot Tesla says it wants to build at scale. (youtube.com) (tesla.com) In a drone update published April 24, Joe Tegtmeyer showed a “Tech Fab” ceremony and new foundation work on the north side of the Austin campus, where he said Optimus-related construction is taking shape. (youtube.com) Tesla had already signaled the timing two days earlier. In its April 22 first-quarter 2026 update, the company said preparations for its first large-scale Optimus factory would begin shortly in the second quarter. (tesla.com) That same filing said Tesla’s first-generation Optimus line, designed for 1 million robots a year, will replace the Model S and Model X lines in Fremont. (tesla.com) The Texas work matters because it points to a second manufacturing step beyond Fremont: pilot production in California, then a larger dedicated factory in Austin. (tesla.com) (finance.yahoo.com) Tesla’s first-quarter update also said it “commenced ramp of additional AI compute” and new factories across batteries and battery materials, linking the robot push to a broader capital-spending increase. (tesla.com) Outside coverage of the April 22 earnings call said Elon Musk pegged Fremont Optimus production for late July or August 2026, with a dedicated Texas factory targeted for summer 2027. (electrek.co) (finance.yahoo.com) Tesla has not published, in the material reviewed here, a detailed site map naming the new Texas foundation area as the Optimus plant. The strongest public evidence so far is the combination of Tesla’s Q2 factory-prep guidance and Tegtmeyer’s April drone footage from the campus. (tesla.com) (youtube.com) If that foundation work is for Optimus, Austin is becoming more than Tesla’s Cybertruck base. It is also becoming the company’s main construction site for its next factory bet. (youtube.com) (tesla.com)
