Tesla scores major hire as Apple scientist moves to Optimus team

"In a farewell note, Yilun Chen reflected on his tenure at Apple as a period defined by rapid growth and exposure to notable internal projects, some of which remain unreleased. His roles spanned engineering, research, early product incubation, and hands-on prototyping, allowing him to build expertise across both mature and emerging teams. Chen credited mentors, colleagues, and cross-functional collaborators for shaping his trajectory, calling the experience unforgettable and emphasizing how each team taught him different lessons about scaling technology, guiding product vision, and navigating fast-moving research environments. "Each role has offered me invaluable unique lessons... My deepest gratitude goes to my colleagues, mentors and friends," he wrote."

"Chen said the move to Tesla was driven by the momentum surrounding Optimus, a humanoid robot powered by LLM-driven reasoning and Physical AI. After visiting Tesla's Optimus lab, he admitted that he was "totally blown away by the scale and sophistication of the Optimus lab and deep dedication of people when I got to visit the office." Career Update: After almost four memorable years, I moved on from Apple last week, closing an unforgettable chapter of my professional journey.I'm sincerely grateful for the opportunities to work on so many amazing projects and products across the company. Though many of them... pic.twitter.com/xexiubyW4f- Yilun Chen (@yilun_chen_) November 30, 2025"

Yilun Chen moved from Apple to Tesla to join the Optimus AI team after advancing from individual contributor to technical lead at Apple. Chen worked across engineering, research, early product incubation, and hands-on prototyping, gaining experience with both mature and emerging teams. He credited mentors, colleagues, and cross-functional collaborators for shaping his development and emphasized lessons about scaling technology, guiding product vision, and navigating fast-moving research environments. The move to Tesla was driven by Optimus momentum, noted as a humanoid robot integrating LLM-driven reasoning and Physical AI, and Chen was impressed by the lab's scale and dedication.

Read at TESLARATI