Make Tesla factory in Turkey, country's president asks Elon Musk. Latter says…
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Elon Musk spoke during a meeting at Turkish House in New York.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, the country's communications directorate said. To the request, Elon Musk responded by saying that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla. Turkey was among the most important candidates for its next factory, as per the government's statement. However, Tesla has not officially responded on the comments.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Elon Musk spoke during a meeting at Turkish House in New York, Turkey's state-owned Anadolu news agency reported as the president is in the US to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
Erdogan also said during the meeting that Turkey was open to cooperation on artificial intelligence and Starlink, the satellite internet venture of Musk's SpaceX, the communications directorate said. Elon Musk said that SpaceX wished to work with Turkish authorities to obtain the necessary licence to offer Starlink satellite services in Turkey.
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Erdogan also invited Elon Musk to attend Turkish aerospace and technology festival Teknofest in Izmir at the end of September.
Elon Musk is also set to meet Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California. Their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology, Elon Musk posted on social media platform X.
Where are Tesla factories?
Tesla currently has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state as it aims to expand its global footprint. In May, Elon Musk said that Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year. In addition to running Tesla, Elon Musk also bought X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.
While describing himself as a free speech absolutist, Elon Musk has complied with some demands by the Turkish government to censor content on his social media platform.
