1X opens NEO humanoid robot factory in California

AI and robotics company 1X announced that its NEO Factory in Hayward, Calif. has commenced full-scale production.

The company said that this milestone represents the most vertically integrated humanoid robot factory in the United States and takes a major step in building advanced AI hardware and robotics manufacturing in America.

The factory is producing 1X’s flagship product: NEO. The company describes NEO as a safe, intelligent, general-purpose home robot designed to work seamlessly alongside humans in everyday environments.

Vertically integrated humanoid robot factory

Spanning 58,000 square feet and currently employing more than 200 team members - with plans for significant expansion - 1X said that the NEO Factory features fully vertically integrated hardware manufacturing and production lines.

“This is more than just a factory opening - it’s proof that the future of humanoid robotics is being built right here in the U.S.,” said Bernt Børnich, founder and CEO of 1X. “We’re not dreaming about abundance; we’re manufacturing it. More production means more robots, and more robots mean the fastest path to physical AI. Production is happening now, and American consumers will be among the first in the world to welcome NEO into their homes.”

1X said that it designs and manufactures critical components in-house, including motors, batteries, structures, transmission systems, soft goods, sensors and more. From cutting metal parts to fully automated motor manufacturing lines that spin copper coils, 1X said that it maintains end-to-end control.

The company said that this approach sets the company apart from competitors that rely on Chinese suppliers for critical subsystems - it enables faster iteration, higher safety standards, and efficient scaling - giving 1X the capacity to build 10,000 NEOs per year, with plans to reach 100,000+ by the end of 2027.

1X said that demand for NEO has already far exceeded initial expectations. In late October 2025, 1X launched NEO. The company said that it sold out its entire first-year production capacity (over 10,000 units) in five days.

“We’re building the world’s safest, most reliable humanoid robots - right here in Hayward, California,” said Vikram Kothari, VP of manufacturing & hardware at 1X. “We’re creating 200+ high-skill American jobs with a vertically integrated stack, from components to final assembly. This is bottom-up American manufacturing and innovation at its best: total control, extreme reliability, rapid iteration and zero compromise on quality. NEO extends human capability so people can achieve more with their time.”

NEO’s onboard brain is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Thor

1X said that every NEO rolling off the production line in Hayward will feature the latest NVIDIA Jetson Thor as the core of its “robot brain,” the NEO Cortex. The company said that this integration enables powerful real-time AI inference directly on the robot for safety-critical functions, perception, reasoning and decision-making - without heavy cloud computing.

1X said that it uses NVIDIA Isaac Sim and NVIDIA Isaac Lab open simulation frameworks for photorealistic robot training and learning environments and Isaac Lab to run parallel GPU-based reinforcement learning simulations in the cloud. The company said that the result is a more responsive, secure and capable home robot that operates efficiently in dynamic human environments.

1X added that this close partnership with NVIDIA gives it a significant technological edge, combining world-class hardware, simulation frameworks and synthetic data generation with the company’s vertical integration to accelerate the path to truly intelligent, autonomous humanoids.

“Humanoid robots require high-performance, real-time AI inference and continuous training and testing in simulation for safe and reliable operation,” said Deepu Talla, vice president of robotics and edge AI at NVIDIA. “By using NVIDIA Jetson Thor as the brain and the NVIDIA Isaac open robotics platform as its training ground, 1X is able to accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent robots like NEO that can work safely alongside humans.”

NEO consumer shipments begin in 2026

1X said that the Hayward facility marks a major step in the company’s roadmap, with robots from the line being shipped to the company’s R&D Lab and Internal Home Testing.

The company said that the first customer shipments of NEO are planned for 2026. 1X said that this positions the company to deliver one of the world’s first consumer-ready general-purpose humanoids directly to American homes, transforming how people live and work.