China's rare earth embargo stalls Musk's robot vision
China's decision to halt the export of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has impacted Elon Musk's business, reports "The New York Times." This particularly affects the work on the Optimus robot, also known as the Tesla Bot.
Elon Musk revealed that China's export restrictions are hindering his plans to develop Optimus, a humanoid robot. To recap, Beijing suspended the export of certain rare earth minerals and magnets in April, which are crucial for the global automotive, aerospace, and semiconductor industries. China has decided it will issue licenses to allow the export of these critical metals.
"China produces the entire world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals, from ore mined in China and Myanmar, and 90 percent of magnets made with these metals. Japan produces the rest of the magnets, but uses raw materials from China," reports "NYT." Rare earth magnets are essential for Tesla's robots as they help prevent "malfunction and overheating" of electric motors. In the case of Optimus, these motors are located in the arms.
The trade war impacts Musk
Elon Musk emphasized that supply chain issues are slowing down the production of robots. The billionaire and close associate of Donald Trump aims to create robots that can perform everyday tasks, such as serving drinks or unloading groceries from the car.
The export of rare earth metals to the United States might be halted for an extended period. Yang Jie, an export control lawyer at the Shanghai law firm Huiye, told "NYT" that Chinese regulations require the Ministry of Commerce to develop an export control protocol within 45 business days of its announcement on April 4.
In his opinion, issuing export permits to the USA may take longer due to the trade war initiated by Donald Trump. According to Yang Jie, the shortest possible time frame is six months, but in reality, it could be much longer. This would be unfavorable for Musk.
How are other producers of humanoid prototypes coping with this situation? Jonathan Hurst from Agility Robotics explained that it is possible to reduce the number of magnets used. However, the robot must be smaller.
In the first quarter of the year, Tesla recorded a profit of $409 million - a decrease of over 70 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Elon Musk announced that starting in May, he will reduce his activities in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
