Erdogan discusses ‘opportunities for collaboration’ with Elon Musk

The Turkish leader invited the US billionaire to visit his country during their meeting in New York

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to pick Türkiye as the location for his electric vehicle company’s next gigafactory, according to state-owned Turkish news agency Anadolu.

During the meeting on Sunday, Erdogan described Ankara’s “technological breakthroughs as well as the ‘Digital Türkiye’ vision and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy,” the country’s communications directorate said in a statement cited by Anadolu.

Besides urging Musk to establish Tesla’s next factory in Türkiye, Erdogan also described other “opportunities for collaboration with SpaceX may arise through the steps taken and to be taken as part of Türkiye’s space program.” 

The US entrepreneur has yet to comment on the results of the talks. He was seen entering the Turkish House skyscraper across the street of the UN headquarters on Sunday, carrying his son on Sunday.

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Tesla currently has six ‘gigafactories’ in the US, Germany, and China, and is building a seventh in Mexico. The automaker could pick a location for its next major production facility by the end of 2023, Musk indicated earlier this year.

Last month, the company expressed interest in building a factory in India to produce a low-cost EV model, after Musk pledged significant investment in India following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US in June.