Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk requested to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on his state visit to the United States and it was accepted.
Elon Musk met President Yeol at the Blair House in Washington, DC today to discuss investment opportunities in South Korea, reported by Yonhap News Agency.
President Yeol asked Elon Musk to set up a Gigafactory in South Korea and assured him of full assistance from the government if Tesla decides to invest in the country.
“Should Tesla decide to invest, we will provide active support in terms of location, workforce, and taxes,” President Yoon Suk Yeol reportedly said during the meeting.
According to the South Korean senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok, Elon Musk plans to visit South Korea and said that the Asia-Pacific country is an interesting location for the next Gigafactory.
The South Korean President during the meeting told Elon Musk that his country makes advanced manufacturing robots and an educated workforce. These factors make it an ideal location for the next Tesla Gigafactory.
If Tesla decides to set up a Gigafactory in South Korea, it will be the automaker’s 2nd car manufacturing plant in Asia-Pacific after Gigafactory Shanghai. Giga Shanghai was Tesla’s 2nd plant where the electric automaker manufactured cars before Berlin and Austin.
This new plant might be used to produce the next-generation smaller more affordable Tesla car in the future. Like what the automaker intends to do at the recently-announced Gigafactory Mexico.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo also met Elon Musk last year to propose a Gigafactory set up in his country. This situation is creating competition between South Korea and Indonesia for winning the next Asian Gigafactory in the region.
Tesla is planning to make a Gigafactory in Canada as well and some Canadian government officials visited the automaker’s Fremont car factory last year.
So, there are multiple Gigafactory projects in the pipeline that are much needed to accomplish Tesla’s goal of transitioning the world’s transportation to sustainable energy.
Not just Tesla, President Yoon also talked about collaborating with SpaceX with Elon Musk. “We hope that cooperation with SpaceX will continue to expand in the future to foster the space industry,” President Yook Suk Yoel said.
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