President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting with Elon Musk, the head of electric carmaker Tesla, and invited him to establish a factory in Türkiye, a statement said Monday.
Erdoğan and Musk have held a string of meetings both in Türkiye and on the sidelines of international forums, developing a seeming friendship that they extended on Sunday in New York.
"President Erdoğan called on Tesla to establish its seventh factory in Türkiye," the Presidency's Directorate of Communications said.
During the talks at the Turkish House (Türkevi), Erdoğan informed one of the world’s richest men about "Türkiye’s technological breakthroughs as well as the ‘Digital Türkiye’ vision and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy," the statement added.
"Our president explained that we have stepped into electric vehicle production with Togg and said that we are ready to support Tesla to establish its 2nd factory in Europe and 7th factory in the world in Türkiye," Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kacır, who also attended the meeting, referred to Türkiye’s first homegrown electric vehicle brand, Togg, which launched mass production last October and started deliveries this April.
For his part, Musk said that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla and that Türkiye was among the most important candidates for its next factory.
Erdoğan arrived in the U.S. to attend the 78th session of the U.N. General Assembly, which he is scheduled to address on Tuesday.
Tesla currently has six factories, including two outside the U.S. – one in Shanghai focused on the Asian market and a second focused on European sales near Berlin.
It is also planning to build one in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state and has tentative plans for a plant in India, part of the automaker’s push to expand its global footprint.
AI, Starlink cooperation
Erdoğan also said during the meeting that Türkiye was open to cooperation on artificial intelligence and Starlink, the satellite internet venture of Musk’s SpaceX, the communications directorate said.
"President Erdoğan stated that opportunities for collaboration with SpaceX may arise through the steps taken and to be taken as part of Türkiye’s space program," it added.
Musk said SpaceX wished to work with Turkish authorities to obtain the necessary license to offer Starlink satellite services in Türkiye.
It also said Erdoğan invited Musk to attend Teknofest, Türkiye’s largest aerospace and technology festival, in the Aegean province of Izmir at the end of September and cited the SpaceX founder as saying he would gladly attend.
Musk’s SpaceX has been working with Türkiye’s space industry, launching some of its communication satellites.
During the meeting, Erdoğan also promoted Türkiye’s high-tech sector, which is arguably most famous for its Bayraktar combat drones.
The drones helped Ukraine repel Russia’s march on Kyiv in the first weeks of its invasion last year and have been exported to at least 30 countries.
Musk said he was aware of the world’s interest in Bayraktar drones, the statement added.
Images of the meeting showed Musk holding one of his sons as he talked to Erdoğan.
Erdoğan presented a football to Musk’s son, whom he and Canadian pop star Grimes named "X AE A-12."
Musk is also set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday. He posted on social media platform X that their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology.
Tesla in August expressed an interest in building a factory in India that would produce a low-cost electric vehicle.
Musk said in May that Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.
Tesla shares are up 123% so far this year and the automaker on Saturday said it had produced its 5 million cars.
In addition to running Tesla, Musk also bought X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.