In brief
- Elon Musk said humanoid robots might boost Tesla’s market worth to $25 trillion over an undisclosed period at the 2024 annual shareholder meeting.
- Tesla closed Thursday with a $580 billion market valuation.
- The S&P 500 is worth $45.5 trillion, according to FactSet.
The S&P 500 is worth $45.5 trillion, according to FactSet. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stated on Thursday that the company’s Optimus humanoid robots may increase its value by over 50%.
At the 2024 annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, Musk called himself “pathologically optimistic” and stated Tesla is starting a “new chapter” and writing a “new book.” Optimus appears to be a protagonist.
At an AI Day event in 2021, Tesla introduced a dancer in a unitard that resembled a sleek, androgynous robot to announce its humanoid robot intentions.
Robotics engineers criticized a January Tesla demo film of Optimus robots folding laundry as being dishonest. Humans were in charge of controlling the robots.
Musk did not reveal Optimus’ capabilities during the shareholder gathering on Thursday. He suggested robots might act like Star Wars’ R2-D2 and C-3PO. Musk proposed they could cook, clean, work in the factory, or teach your kids.
Musk suggested Optimus could boost Tesla’s market cap to $25 trillion.
Musk told an audience of fawning fanboys in the Gigafactory auditorium that Tesla would begin “limited production” of Optimus in 2025 and test humanoid robots in its facilities the following year.
He estimated Tesla will have “over 1,000, or a few thousand, Optimus robots working at Tesla” by 2025.
Even for Musk, who is known for making unrealistic promises to investors and customers, developing software that can upload a Tesla into a self-driving vehicle and EV battery swapping stations is far-fetched.
At a $25 trillion market valuation, Tesla would be worth eight times Apple’s current value. The iPhone maker is the world’s largest firm by market cap, surpassing Microsoft.
Tesla was the 10th most valuable S&P 500 firm at $580 billion on Thursday.
Musk gave no timeline for $25 trillion. He said autonomous vehicles may boost the company’s market valuation to $5–7 trillion.
Musk backed ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood’s bullish Tesla estimates. ARK set a $2,600 price objective on Tesla stock by 2029, betting on a commercial robotaxi market the firm has yet to enter.
Over $8 trillion is Tesla’s market cap at Wood’s price objective.
Musk spoke at the annual meeting after shareholders reinstated his $56 billion pay proposal five months after a Delaware court ordered its rescindment. The crowd cheered when the proposal and preliminary results were read.
Musk said, “I just want to start off by saying hot d—! I love you guys.”
Tesla shares have lost 27% this year as the business faces a sales downturn due to an ageing electric vehicle lineup and rising competition in China. The corporation also laid off heavily. Musk has pushed investors to focus on autonomous driving, robots, and AI rather than the business’s current status.
On Thursday, Musk made a bold claim that Tesla had outperformed Nvidia in the process of inference, which machine learning algorithms use to draw conclusions from brand-new data.
Due to AI chip demand, Nvidia shares have risen approximately ninefold since 2022. The corporation is valued at $3.2 trillion.
Musk’s attention to Tesla, among his other commitments, is a concern. X, SpaceX, The Boring Co., and Neuralink are his companies. Last March, he founded xAI, which raised $6 billion in venture capital.
A shareholder asked Musk how essential he is to Tesla’s future at the meeting.
“I’m a helpful accelerant to that future,” he added of his innovative position.
He claimed IT firms and other companies are targeting humanoid robots. Boston Dynamics, Agility, Neura, and Apptronik compete.
“What really matters is, can we be much faster than everyone else and have our product done a few years before theirs and be better?” Musk remarked.
Source : CNBC News
