Tesla's dedicated Optimus humanoid robot factory at Giga Texas is rising fast. Drone footage captured by aerial observer Joe Tegtmeyer shows the steel superstructure has now reached four floors in at least the sender section — a significant leap from the foundation and GeoPier work documented just weeks ago. The pace mirrors the original Giga Texas main factory build, and it signals that Tesla is treating this facility with the same urgency it once applied to its primary vehicle plant.
A Factory Built at Robot Scale
The numbers behind this construction project are staggering. According to previous reports, the Optimus factory is designed to run nearly the full length of the main Giga Texas building — over 4,000 feet — though 50 to 70 meters narrower. It sits on the North Campus alongside the Terafab AI chip facility, a joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. Together, these structures represent a projected addition of more than 5.2 million square feet of new industrial space by the end of 2026.
Tegtmeyer notes that floor heights will likely vary across different sections of the build, consistent with how the main factory was constructed. The sender section — typically housing lighter assembly or logistics functions — appears to be leading the vertical climb, while other zones may follow at different rates as foundation and phase-two land reclamation work continues across the broader site.
The Production Ambition Behind the Steel
What Tesla is building here isn't a pilot line. The long-term production target for this facility is reported to be 10 million Optimus units per year — roughly 27,000 robots per day. High-volume production is targeted to begin in Summer 2027, with the facility intended to house Optimus V4 production at full scale.
The infrastructure being assembled around the factory is equally telling. The Cortex 2.0 AI training cluster at Giga Texas — which provides the computational backbone for Optimus's AI systems — currently comprises over 230,000 H100-equivalent GPUs, with full 500 MW capacity anticipated by mid-2026. The AI5 inference chip, designed specifically to power Optimus units in the field, completed its tape-out in April 2026. The hardware stack is being assembled in parallel with the physical building.
In the meantime, initial Optimus production isn't waiting for Giga Texas. Tesla began Gen 3 production at its Fremont factory in January 2026, with Model S/X lines being converted for robot assembly in Q2 2026. Full body production of Optimus V3 at Fremont is targeted for Summer 2026 — meaning the company will have robots rolling out of Fremont while the dedicated Texas facility is still going vertical.
The Investment Scale
Tesla's 2026 capital expenditure commitment totals $20 billion, covering both vehicle and robot manufacturing expansion. The Giga Texas North Campus expansion alone — the 5.2 million square feet of new industrial space — carries an estimated construction investment of between $5 billion and $10 billion by end of year. That range reflects the genuine uncertainty in a project of this scope, but even the low end would make this one of the largest single industrial construction efforts in American manufacturing history.
Four floors of steel is a construction milestone, not a production one. But in the context of a 2027 volume ramp target, the pace matters enormously. Every week of schedule the construction team banks now is a week Tesla doesn't have to recover later when it's trying to hit 27,000 robots a day.
Sarah focuses on Tesla Energy, SpaceX missions, and the broader Musk AI portfolio. Former data analyst in clean energy. Based in San Francisco.
Sources verified at publish time. Spotted an inaccuracy? Email editorial@basenor.com.
