‘Optimus chain’: Chinese suppliers form the backbone of Tesla’s humanoid robot initiative

Elon Musk wants to bring the production of its Optimus robot to the US amid electric carmaker Tesla’s plan to pivot towards manufacturing humanoids, smart machines that could one day serve as part of the workforce at American factories. That ambitious initiative, however, was expected to remain dependent on China’s vast and fast-developing robotics supply chain into the foreseeable future, even as the final assembly of Optimus would be established in the US, according to analysts and industry...