Apptronik moves toward commercial-scale Apollo deployment, expands in Austin
The humanoid-robot maker is scaling Apollo production and growing its Austin footprint as it pushes toward broader factory and warehouse deployments in 2026.
AUSTIN — Apptronik, the humanoid-robotics company behind the Apollo robot, is ramping production and expanding its Austin operations as it targets commercial-scale deployments in 2026, alongside a new office in California.
The company said in February 2026 that fresh capital would fund the expansion in Austin, the California office and the scale-up of Apollo manufacturing. Apollo units are already being tested in factories and warehouses with partners including Mercedes-Benz and GXO Logistics, and Apptronik has a manufacturing partnership with Jabil.
CEO Jeff Cardenas has said he expects orders for roughly $1 billion worth of robots starting in 2027, when the company hopes to be delivering Apollo at high volume for around $80,000 a unit per year.
Why it matters
Austin has been positioning itself as the capital of so-called physical AI, the intersection of robotics, hardware and machine learning. Apptronik's decision to anchor its scale-up here, rather than relocate to a coastal robotics hub, reinforces that pitch. Whether humanoids move from pilot lines to standing deployments is one of the defining open questions in the sector, and Apptronik's 2026 trajectory will be watched as a bellwether.
We will use this funding to expand in Austin, open a new office in California and scale production of our robots.— Jeff Cardenas, CEO, Apptronik
Reported by Next in Austin. Based on reporting from SiliconANGLE.
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