Tesla is calling on China-based robotics suppliers for its Optimus robot

Tesla Inc. is turning to Chinese suppliers as it ramps up production of its humanoid Optimus robot, marking a shift from the automaker’s recent strategy of reducing Chinese sourcing for vehicles built in the U.S.

Tesla teams visited Ningbo, a major manufacturing city on China’s eastern coast, for audits on production consistency and exclusivity demands, according to a local report by the 21st Century Business Herald that cited supply chain sources. The report also noted that Tesla has already placed orders with suppliers for its Optimus robot.

Tesla is also expanding its Optimus footprint in Texas, with construction continuing on the company’s Optimus factory at Gigafactory Texas as it prepares for large-scale production.

Optimus, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said could become Tesla’s biggest product, represents a departure from Tesla’s recent approach to its U.S.-built vehicles. In late 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla decided to phase out China-based suppliers for vehicles built in the U.S.

At the same time, China has remained critical to Tesla’s future. In the second quarter, Tesla said it achieved record energy storage deployments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, supported by record deployments from Megafactory Shanghai. Musk also said in a recent media appearance that the factory is “a gem” and said China has a “very strong, inherent ability to do manufacturing well.”

Meanwhile, Musk is praising Chinese President Xi Jinping. In an interview with Chinese state television network CCTV, Musk said Xi “seems like a great leader.”

“Under his tenure, China has prospered immensely,” Musk said. “I’ve seen it first hand if you visit China and you see the amount of progress that happens from one year to the next or even within a year, it’s very visible. You can see the new buildings, the new infrastructure.”

Musk attributed the progress to Xi, who has been president since 2013. “So he’s clearly done an excellent job and is very capable,” he added.

The supplier push also unfolds as U.S.-China relations remain in focus. President Donald Trump, who is back on friendly terms with Musk, is having a summit with Xi this week. In May, Musk was among several other business leaders who joined Trump on a trip to Beijing, during which Trump had meetings with China’s leader.

Although it’s not yet clear whether their latest meetings will result in deliverables on policy or trade, the two could discuss topics such as AI risks related to cyberattacks and major model failures.

Leading up to the meeting, Trump has spoken kindly of Xi. “We have a very good trading relationship and, you know, they’re a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi,” Trump said this month.

But other tensions have risen ahead of the visit. In July, the Federal Communications Commission added advanced robotic devices produced in foreign countries, which includes things like autonomous mobile robots, humanoid robots and quadrupeds, to its list of banned devices. To qualify as domestically produced, the cost of domestic components must exceed 65% for items delivered through 2028 and 75% for items delivered beginning in 2029.

The directive arrived as China leads globally in industrial robotics, representing 54% of global deployments of industrial robots in 2024. China also has dominance in rare earth minerals, which are used in robotics. A recent paper released by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy suggests that potential supply disruptions from China could affect allied supplies of downstream rare earth products.

The FCC said the move to ban foreign-produced robotic devices was country neutral. But the action was condemned by China’s Commerce Ministry. The agency responded with an online statement that said restrictions on Chinese goods “severely damages China-U.S. economic and trade stability.”

Accordingly, Musk may be keeping a close eye on U.S-China relations as Optimus pushes ahead.

The first large-scale Optimus factory will be in Fremont, Calif., replacing the Model S and Model X lines previously at the plant. Musk walked the production line this past summer, and the company has noted that the robots will be assembled there sometime this year. Musk has said the planned Gigafactory Texas Optimus facility will have an annual production capacity of 10 million robots.

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This article originally published at Tesla is calling on China-based robotics suppliers for its Optimus robot.