Tesla’s Musk names Korea among top candidate sites for Gigafactory

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Wednesday that South Korea is among its top candidates to build in Asia another Gigafactory, the US electric car maker’s vehicle, battery and component factory.

Musk, also the chief executive of SpaceX, the rocket and spacecraft manufacturer he founded, made the remark during a video call with Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.

Yoon, aware of Tesla’s plan to build a Gigafactory in Asia, asked Musk to build it in Korea and the US billionaire responded that he is considering the country as one of the top candidate locations and would make the final decision after reviewing investment conditions in other Asian countries, including labor quality, technology level and production infrastructure, according to the statement. 

Tesla currently operates two EV manufacturing factories in the US – California and Texas – one in Berlin, Germany, and another in Shanghai, China.

Some other Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, are also lobbying to win Tesla’s next investment in EV production, according to media reports.

Tesla is already a big buyer of Korean-made auto parts for its autonomous driving and artificial intelligence products and plans to expand its supply chain with Korean companies, Musk was quoted as saying by the presidential office.

He expects the total value of parts purchases from Korean businesses to exceed $10 billion next year, the office said.

Korea’s LG Energy Solution Ltd. is one of Tesla’s major battery suppliers.

SPACE COOPERATION

While praising Musk for SpaceX’s innovative achievements, including the reuse of rockets, President Yoon called for cooperation between SpaceX and Korea’s aerospace companies.

In June, Korea opened a new space era as it succeeded in the launch of a homegrown space rocket, Nuri, carrying payloads to become the world’s seventh country with advanced aerospace technology capable of sending at least a 1-ton satellite into orbit.

During the video call with Musk, Yoon said he would reform unreasonable regulations that hinder investment by global tech companies.

The virtual meeting came after the Tesla CEO earlier this month canceled his trip to Bali, Indonesia, where the two had been scheduled to meet in person on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, the presidential office said.

Write to In-Yeop Kim at inside@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.