Turkish President Erdogan seeks Tesla factory in Turkey, discusses AI and Starlink cooperation with Musk in New York
\nISTANBUL
\nTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, the country\u2019s communications directorate said on Monday.
\nIt cited Musk as saying that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla and that Turkey was among the most important candidates for its next factory.
\nTesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
\nErdogan and Musk were speaking during a meeting at Turkish House, a skyscraper near the United Nations in New York, Turkey\u2019s state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
\nErdogan is in the US to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
\nErdogan also said during the meeting that Turkey was open to cooperation on artificial intelligence and Starlink, the satellite internet venture of Musk\u2019s SpaceX, the communications directorate said.
\nIt cited Musk as saying SpaceX wished to work with Turkish authorities to obtain the necessary licence to offer Starlink satellite services in Turkey.
\nIt also said Erdogan invited Musk to attend Turkish aerospace and technology festival Teknofest in Izmir at the end of September and cited Musk as saying he would gladly attend.
\nRead also: Elon Musk to meet Israel\u2019s Benjamin Netanyahu in Silicon Valley
\nMusk is also set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday. Musk posted on social media platform X that their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology.
\nTesla in August expressed an interest in building a factory in India that would produce a low-cost electric vehicle.
\nTesla currently has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state, part of the automaker\u2019s push to expand its global footprint.
\nMusk said in May that Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.
\nTesla shares are up 123% so far this year and the automaker on Saturday said it had produced its 5 millionth car.
\nIn addition to running Tesla, Musk also bought X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.
\nWhile describing himself as a free speech absolutist, Musk has complied with some demands by the Turkish government to censor content in the country. In other cases, the social media company has objected to orders by the Turkish courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turkish President Erdogan seeks Tesla factory in Turkey, discusses AI and Starlink cooperation with Musk in New York ISTANBUL Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, the country\u2019s communications directorate said on Monday. It cited Musk as saying that many Turkish suppliers are already working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-356835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n