According to a new report from state-owned Turkish news agency Anadolu, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has requested that Tesla CEO Elon Musk pick Türkiye as the location for his car company’s next Gigafactory.
In a statement cited by Anadolu, the country’s communications directorate said that in the course of the meeting Sunday, Erdogan described Türkiye’s “technological breakthroughs as well as the ‘Digital Türkiye’ vision and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy.”
In addition to asking Musk to locate Tesla’s next Gigafactory in Türkiye, Erdogan also discussed how other “opportunities for collaboration with SpaceX may arise through the steps taken and to be taken as part of Türkiye’s space program.”
Musk has yet to make any public comments regarding the results of the talks. He was seen Sunday, carrying his son as he entered the Turkish House skyscraper which sits across the street from the headquarters of the UN.
There are currently six Tesla Gigafactories in the world, located in the US, Germany, and China. A seventh is in the process of being built in Mexico. Musk has indicated earlier this year that the company may pick a location for its next major production facility by the end of 2023.
The company has expressed interest in building one of its factories in India, to produce a low-cost EV, following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Musk in the US in June, where Musk promised significant investment in India.