South Korea is offering “tailored” benefits to Tesla to set up an electric vehicle (EV) plant in the country, according to statements made by President Yoon Suk-yeol as detailed in a report from Reuters.
Yoon recently had a video call with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in which the latter said that South Korea was one of the top picks for the U.S. automaker’s next factory in Asia.
“If Tesla, SpaceX or other companies are considering more investment in Korea including constructing a Gigafactory, the government will do our best to support the investment,” Yoon said as translated from Korean to English during a larger interview with Reuters. “We are preparing a tailored approach to grant some advantages to these specified companies.”
Tesla Fans in South Korea Have $15 Billion Stake in Company https://t.co/rR46HWOEhe
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) August 24, 2022
One of the largest offerings from Yoon and South Korea are the highly skilled workers available to Tesla in the country. In addition, Yoon emphasized that the country would make sure regulations and requirements for foreign companies wouldn’t cause unexpected financial or regulatory hurdles for Tesla.
Other potential Tesla Gigafactory options in Asia include India and Indonesia, both of which have also tried to woo the automaker into building an EV plant domestically.
Some analysts have noted, however, that neither of the two countries have the robust auto supply chain that South Korea has, though they are fairly bountiful in minerals useful for building EVs, such as nickel.
