So Elon Musk thinks his robot is going to be worth more than the iPhone. Bold claim? Absolutely. Crazy? Maybe not as much as you’d think.
Here’s the deal: While everyone’s been obsessing over Tesla’s cars and SpaceX’s rockets, Musk has been quietly building something that could make both look like warm-up acts. Meet Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot that’s already working in Tesla factories and apparently serving drinks at the company’s Hollywood diner (because of course it is).
Musk recently dropped this bombshell: “Optimus will be the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s value… with the potential to generate over $10 trillion in revenue.” That’s not a typo. Ten. Trillion. Dollars.
Now, before you roll your eyes and mutter something about Musk’s Twitter habits, consider this: AI has gotten scary smart, scary fast. Back in September 2024, most AI models had IQs between 80-93. Today? We’re talking 90-140 IQ range. That’s less than a year of improvement that took humans millennia to achieve.
Pair that brain power with a robot body that can walk, lift, cook, and learn, and you’ve got something that could flip the entire labor market upside down. No lunch breaks, no sick days, no asking for raises – just 24/7 productivity.
Think about it: every major tech revolution has created massive wealth while completely reshaping how we work. The assembly line killed cottage industries overnight. Computers eliminated entire office departments. And now we might be looking at robots that can do… well, pretty much everything humans do, but without the human drama.
But here’s where it gets interesting for investors: history shows the biggest winners aren’t always the headline companies. Sure, everyone knew about Dell and Apple during the PC boom, but Intel shot up 10,000% between 1986-99. Microsoft? Try 97,000% returns. Applied Materials, the company that made the tools to make the chips, jumped nearly 19,000%.
The same pattern played out during the dot-com era. While people chased AOL and Yahoo, Cisco (the internet’s plumbing company) rose 35,000%. Qualcomm popped 6,000% between 1995-2000.
So while Tesla grabs headlines with Optimus, the real money might be in the companies building the components, sensors, and infrastructure that make these robots possible. The suppliers, the chip makers, the software developers – the behind-the-scenes players that make the magic happen.
Look, maybe Musk is overselling this. Maybe robots won’t replace half the workforce by 2030. But if he’s even partially right, we’re looking at the kind of technological shift that creates generational wealth for those who see it coming.
The question isn’t whether robots will change everything – it’s whether you’ll be positioned to profit when they do. Because if history has taught us anything, it’s that when the tools change, the world follows. And the smart money? It’s already moving.