Erdogan asks Elon Musk to build Tesla factory in Turkiye, cooperate in artificial intelligence

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has requested American business magnate, Elon Musk, to build his next factory for the production of Tesla cars in Turkiye.

During Erdogan’s stay in New York today, as part of his visit to the US to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, Elon Musk – the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and, more recently of X, formerly Twitter – met with the Turkish leader and sat down for a discussion.

According to the Turkish Communications Directorate today, Erdogan asked Musk to build his next Tesla factory in Turkiye. The electric car manufacturer currently has six factories around the world and is building a seventh in Mexico, but is reportedly also considering building one in India.

Musk replied by admitting that Turkiye is one of the key candidates for its next factory’s location, and acknowledged that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla.

Erdogan also expressed his country’s openness to cooperation on artificial intelligence – a field which Musk is prominently involved in – and Starlink, the satellite internet project of SpaceX. Additionally, the President invited Musk to attend Teknofest, the Turkish aerospace and technology festival, in Izmir at the end of September. The Tesla CEO reportedly said that he would gladly attend.

This was the latest meeting between Erdogan and Musk, who have met numerous times over the years in efforts to cooperate in technological advancement and the launching of satellites.

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