Electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) has attracted thousands of followers to its new AI social media account on the Chinese social media site Weibo.
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Launched at the weekend, the new TeslaAI account, aimed at taking on resurgent Chinese competition, has already gained more than 12,000 followers, according to media reports in China.
AI Advances
The first two posts on the account on Sunday September 7, featured images and videos of its humanoid Optimus robot in action and the phrase “Accelerating Evolution.” Going forward, Tesla said the account would continue to showcase its advances in autonomous driving, driverless ride-hailing and its Cortex supercomputer.
The move comes only days after Tesla unveiled its Master Plan Part IV, highlighting AI and robotics as the primary drivers of much-needed future growth. Chief Executive Elon Musk claims that about 80% of Tesla’s long-term value will come from its Optimus humanoid robot project. Indeed, in many ways Tesla is no longer an EV company first.
Some analysts believe that Tesla could be paving the way for the introduction of its Optimus robots into China.
If so, it will face intense competition.
Chinese Lead
Earlier this week Alibaba (BABA), through its cloud arm Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, led a new $100 million funding round for Chinese humanoid robot startup X Square Robot, showing growing investor interest in robots powered by AI.
X Square Robot’s Chief Operating Officer, Yang Qian, said the company is already generating revenue from sales to schools, hotels, and retirement homes.
Chinese robot maker Unitree is also reportedly getting closer to an IPO with a $7 billion valuation. Unitree released a number of videos last year showing its robots walking, climbing and carrying loads. It also won multiple medals at the World Humanoid Robot Games this summer, including the 4X100 relay.
President Xi is a fan, determined to provide more support to China’s tech firms in the area of robotics, semiconductors and AI, to compete with U.S. rivals such as Tesla.
Goldman Sachs estimates that the global humanoid robot market could grow from about $3 billion in 2023 to as much as $38 billion by 2035. Morgan Stanley projects even faster growth, saying the sector could reach $5 trillion by 2050, supported by sales of robots, spare parts, maintenance, and services.
China’s share of the global robotics market is believed to be around 40%.
Is TSLA a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, TSLA has a Hold consensus based on 13 Buy, 13 Hold and 8 Sell ratings. Its highest price target is $500. TSLA stock’s consensus price target is $306.42, implying an 11.54% downside.
