Elon Musk Discusses Tesla's Mission, Solar, Optimus and Space at WEF [

Elon Musk Discusses Tesla's Mission, Solar, Optimus and Space at WEF [VIDEO]

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Elon Musk outlined an updated vision that includes a new mission statement for Tesla, a large domestic solar manufacturing push in the United States, and a clearer timetable for Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot.

Tesla's Mission: Sustainable Abundance

Tesla's long-standing mission has been To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Following the release of Master Plan Part IV last year, Musk described the company's aim more broadly as Sustainable Abundance.

Elon Musk on Tesla's new mission: pic.twitter.com/jh1on5FydO
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 22, 2026

Musk explained that while sustainable energy addresses the climate crisis, sustainable abundance aims to tackle economic hardship. He argued that advances in AI and robotics could make labor widespread and effectively free, drastically reducing the cost of goods and services.

He suggested this could lead to a future where poverty is eliminated because everything becomes affordable. Observers noted that this talk resembled Musk's more focused public outlook from 2018, centered on a grand, actionable goal.

Optimus For the Masses in 2027

Musk gave his most specific timeline yet for Optimus. Optimus units are already operating on factory floors, handling simple tasks in Tesla's factories. By the end of this year, he said, those robots will be performing more complex tasks across a broader set of industrial settings. By the end of 2027, Tesla will prepare to open sales of Optimus to the public.

He added that the 2027 target depends on achieving very high levels of reliability and safety, but expressed confidence that robots will eventually outnumber people.

100 GW of Solar in the US

Turning to energy infrastructure, Musk announced a major manufacturing plan involving Tesla and SpaceX. To address the energy needs of the AI expansion, he said Tesla and SpaceX are separately working to build 100 gigawatts (GW) of annual solar manufacturing capacity within the United States, with the goal of bringing that production capacity online in about 3 years.

For context, the entire U.S. grid has a total generating capacity of roughly 1,200 GW. Adding 100 GW of annual solar generation capacity would materially change the U.S. energy picture. Musk noted that a solar array about 100 x 100 miles in a sunny part of Nevada or New Mexico could sustainably power the entire United States, and a slightly larger area could power all of North America.

Space-Based AI

On AI and energy, Musk proposed a space-based approach to the heat and power constraints of AI data centers: placing them into orbit. He said SpaceX is working on plans to launch solar-powered AI satellites within the next few years.

Musk pointed out that solar panels in space produce approximately ~5x more energy than on Earth. Depending on satellite placement there may be no nighttime, and, importantly, there are no clouds or atmosphere to limit generation.

By radiating waste heat into the vacuum, which functions as an effectively infinite heat sink, one could eliminate one of the biggest terrestrial data center requirements: cooling.

The lowest cost place to put AI will be space.

Closing Words

Musk ended the session by encouraging world leaders to adopt optimism over cynicism.

“My last words would be: I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future. For quality of life, it’s better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than a pessimist and right.”

The full keynote discussion is available on YouTube.