Key Points:
- Musk envisions Tesla’s market cap reaching $25 trillion, driven by Optimus robots, and promises limited production in 2025 for working in Tesla factories.
- Reinstatement of Musk’s $56 billion pay plan and emphasis on future technologies.
- Musk claimed Tesla’s silicon technology surpassed Nvidia in AI inference capabilities.
- He emphasized his importance as a catalyst for Tesla’s innovation and competitiveness.
The S&P 500’s total value is $45.5 trillion, but Elon Musk believes Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots could make the automaker worth more than half that amount. At Tesla’s 2024 annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, Musk, describing himself as “pathologically optimistic,” announced that Tesla is on the brink of a revolutionary new phase, with Optimus at its core.
Tesla introduced its humanoid robot concept in 2021 during an AI Day event. Initially, the concept was presented by a dancer in a unitard designed to look like a sleek robot. Earlier this year, Tesla showcased a demo video of Optimus robots folding laundry, which robotics experts criticized for being misleading as the robots were not autonomous and required human operation.
During the recent shareholder meeting, Musk did not detail Optimus’s current capabilities but suggested the robots could one day perform tasks akin to Star Wars’ R2-D2 and C-3PO. He envisioned them cooking, cleaning, working in factories, or teaching children. Musk projected that Optimus could be a catalyst to elevate Tesla’s market cap to $25 trillion.
Musk promised that Tesla would enter “limited production” of Optimus in 2025 and begin testing humanoid robots in its factories next year. He predicted that by 2025, Tesla would have “over 1,000, or a few thousand” Optimus robots working within the company.
Such ambitious promises are not new for Musk, who has made bold claims that did not materialize, including developing software to convert existing Teslas into self-driving vehicles and establishing battery swapping stations. Achieving a $25 trillion market cap would mean Tesla surpassing Apple’s value by eight times. Apple, the world’s most valuable company, is over $3 trillion.
As of the close of the shareholder meeting, Tesla was valued at approximately $580 billion, making it the 10th most valuable company in the S&P 500. Musk did not specify a timeline for reaching the $25 trillion valuation but mentioned that autonomous vehicles could boost the company’s market cap to between $5 trillion and $7 trillion. He aligned his views with Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, who recently set a $2,600 price target on Tesla’s stock by 2029, implying a market cap of over $8 trillion.
Musk’s remarks followed the reinstatement of his $56 billion pay package by shareholder vote, despite a Delaware court’s previous order to rescind it. Despite a 27% drop in Tesla shares this year due to declining sales and increased competition, Musk urged investors to focus on the future of autonomous driving, robots, and AI.
Musk also claimed that Tesla’s advancements in silicon technology have surpassed Nvidia in AI inference capabilities. Due to high demand for its AI chips, Nvidia’s shares have surged nearly ninefold since late 2022, making it worth about $3.2 trillion.
With numerous other commitments, including leading X, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and the recently launched startup xAI, Musk was asked about his importance to Tesla’s future. He asserted his role as a significant catalyst for innovation and emphasized the competitive advantage of Tesla’s rapid development pace.
