Tesla's most ambitious manufacturing project yet is officially taking shape. Drone footage captured by aerial photographer Joe Tegtmeyer shows grade preparation actively underway on the North Campus of Giga Texas — the designated site for a dedicated Optimus humanoid robot factory targeting a staggering 10 million units per year. The early-stage earthwork mirrors almost exactly how the main Giga Texas factory looked when it first broke ground, and it signals that Tesla is moving from planning to physical construction at serious speed.
What's Being Built — and How Big
The North Campus expansion isn't a modest addition. According to construction tracking reports, the new Optimus facility is expected to extend nearly the full length of the existing Giga Texas main building — potentially exceeding 4,000 feet — though it will be narrower. The broader North Campus build-out is projected to add over 5.2 million square feet of industrial and advanced manufacturing space. Alongside the Optimus factory, a Terafab AI chip factory is also planned for the campus, co-locating robot hardware production with the AI processing infrastructure that will run it.
Tesla's 2026 capital expenditure commitment stands at $20 billion across vehicle and robot manufacturing. The North Campus expansion alone carries an estimated construction investment of $5 billion to $10 billion by end of year, according to industry reports tracking the project.
The Production Roadmap: Fremont First, Texas at Scale
Tesla is executing a two-phase Optimus production strategy. Fremont is the proving ground — Gen 3 Optimus production began there in January 2026, and Model S and Model X lines were retired in Q2 2026 specifically to convert that floor space for robot manufacturing. Full body production of Optimus V3 at Fremont is targeted for Summer 2026, with that first-generation line designed for a capacity of one million units annually. Early units are supporting internal factory tasks at Giga Texas — handling battery trays, sorting parts, and conducting quality inspections — generating the real-world data Tesla needs to refine the platform.
Giga Texas is the scale play. The facility under construction now will host a second-generation, high-volume production line, with meaningful output targeted for Summer 2027. The 10 million unit per year figure — roughly 27,000 robots per day at full run rate — is an aspirational long-term capacity goal, not a near-term production target. But the fact that Tesla is sizing the physical infrastructure to support that number from the start says a great deal about where leadership believes this market is heading.
When Do External Sales Begin?
Tesla has indicated it intends to begin selling Optimus units to enterprise customers before the end of 2026, with an estimated price point between $20,000 and $30,000 per unit. Initial volumes will be limited — the Fremont line is still ramping, and the Texas factory won't contribute meaningfully until 2027. But the commercial timeline is moving in parallel with construction, not after it.
The grade preparation visible in Tegtmeyer's footage today is the same unglamorous first step that preceded every major Tesla factory. It looked like nothing until it looked like everything. If the Giga Texas main building is any precedent, the pace from dirt to steel to production-ready floor tends to surprise even close observers. The real question now is whether the Fremont ramp delivers enough early Optimus data to hit the 2027 Texas production targets on schedule.
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.
