Race against Tesla: China EV maker Xpeng to launch viral humanoid glo…

Xpeng plans to mass-produce over 1,000 humanoid robots monthly by end-2026 and launch its Iron robot globally in 2027, directly competing with Tesla's Optimus which has yet to reach commercial production. The move positions Xpeng as a physical AI competitor while leveraging China's cost advantage in robotic supply chains. Tesla said it was pivoting to robots but hasn't shipped one; Xpeng is shipping 1,000 a month by December and selling them in 2027. If you make components for humanoid robots—actuators, vision systems, joints, batteries—you now have a customer ready to scale, and Tesla's timeline just got embarrassing.