PharmAGRI said it signed a letter of intent with Tesla to deploy up to 10,000 Optimus humanoid robots from Tesla’s third generation onward.
The firm said it will use them across its farm operations, active pharmaceutical ingredient synthesis, and prescription drug manufacturing facilities.
The announcement comes days after Bright Green Corporation said it would merge with PharmAGRI Capital Partners, the pharmaceutical infrastructure platform behind the initiative.
The companies said the deployment is designed to meet diversion control and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) labor compliance standards, replacing repetitive, low-wage roles with higher-skilled technical jobs.
PharmAGRI added that the robots would reduce reliance on undocumented labor, while retraining programs aim to support workforce transition.
The Optimus units are intended to meet DEA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliance requirements and can generate real-time audit reports on inventory and operating procedures.
As Elon Musk confirmed earlier this month, the new design of Optimus shown by Tesla was the 2.5 version and not the third generation.
On X, Tesla‘s chief said the upcoming V3 is “sublime,” adding later in the day in a separate post that the humanoid robot is “a hard problem in engineering, design and especially manufacturing.”
According to PharmAGRI’s statement, the company has signed for the third and subsequent generations of the robot.
Tesla first presented a prototype of its humanoid robot, later named Optimus, in early 2022 after Chief Executive Elon Musk outlined plans to expand beyond electric cars in 2021.
A second-generation version was shown in late 2023, with the company saying in a December video that the model could walk 30% faster and had improved control of body movements.
At Tesla’s We Robot event last year — where the company unveiled its robotaxi ‘cybercab’ and the ‘robovan’— the Optimus units were used in demonstrations that included serving drinks and playing rock-paper-scissors.
However, Tesla is behind schedule in scaling Optimus production.
Musk had said at the start of 2025 that the company would build at least 5,000 robots this year, but The Information reported in July that production totaled only a few hundred units through the first eight months.
Musk has set a target of 5,000 to 10,000 units in 2025 and 50,000 to 100,000 in 2026.
The Tesla chief has repeatedly described Optimus as central to the company’s future, writing earlier this month that “~80% of Tesla’s value will be Optimus.”
Tesla generated $97.69 billion in revenue last year, implying that the robotics business would need to grow annual sales to about $390.8 billion to meet that projection.
Musk also wrote on X in July 2024 that Tesla “hopefully” would have Optimus robots in high-volume production for external customers in 2026.
Tesla‘s board chair Robyn Denholm stated last week that Musk has returned to being “front and center at the company,” delivering “against really ambitious goals.”
The comments came as Tesla seeks shareholder approval for a new pay package for Musk, linking the potential payout to unprecedented growth targets such as a market capitalization of nearly $7.5 trillion.
