Musk in trouble: China halts production of Tesla's humanoid robot in case it's used for "military purposes."

As the development of Artificial Intelligence advances, progress is also being made in other areas, such as humanoid robots. These are robots with human appearance and capabilities, meaning they have arms, legs, hands, and other features that allow them to imitate human movements.

Without a doubt, one of the most famous companies producing this type of robot is Tesla, the electric car company owned by Elon Musk, which has diversified its business and is also working to expand into the robotics sector. However, they have just encountered a setback due to the intensification of the trade war between China and the United States since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Tensions between the two powers have multiplied in recent months, causing more and more American companies, such as Apple, to leave the Asian country for other nations to avoid the heavy tariffs and other trade shocks that are occurring.

And as Elon Musk himself confirmed during Tesla's first-quarter earnings call, production of the humanoid robot Optimus "was impacted" by a supply chain issue in China. This is because Tesla uses rare earth magnets from China for the robot's arm actuators, and the Asian giant has begun requesting an export license for all these rare earth materials.

"Tesla as a whole doesn't need to use permanent magnets, but when something is limited by volume, like a robot arm, then you want to try to make the motors as small as possible," Musk said. So now the company has to convince China that these materials won't be used for military purposes , but they have a problem: these magnets they use for the robot also serve to build missiles, and the close relationship between the tycoon and Trump generates distrust in China.

"China wants some assurances that these aren't being used for military purposes, which they obviously aren't," Musk said. Because of the tariffs, China has paused the export of these rare earth materials, although it's true that if the US does indeed relax these tariffs, China may do the same.

This is something Tesla "desperately" needs, as Musk plans to produce more than 5,000 Optimus humanoid robots before the end of 2025, although the magnate is confident they will accumulate the necessary parts to be able to produce between 10,000 and 12,000 units.