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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Tesla Chooses Austin, Texas, for Fourth Vehicle Assembly Gigafactory

07/23/2020
During Tesla’s recent earnings call, Elon Musk announced the electric car-maker’s next Gigafactory would be located near Austin, Texas. The over $1 billion capital investment is expected to create at least 5,000 new jobs.

Travis County commissioners this month voted to offer Tesla a tax break worth at least $14.7 million over 10 years so long as the company invests at least $1.1 billion into the factory. The package came on top of a property tax abatement in Texas approved earlier in the month worth an estimated $46 million.

"Tesla is one of the most exciting and innovative companies in the world, and we are proud to welcome its team to the State of Texas,” said Governor Greg Abbott. “Texas has the best workforce in the nation and we’ve built an economic environment that allows companies like Tesla to innovate and succeed. Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas will keep the Texas economy the strongest in the nation and will create thousands of jobs for hard-working Texans. I look forward to the tremendous benefits that Tesla's investment will bring to Central Texas and to the entire state."

Opportunity Austin Chair Gary Farmer said, “Tesla’s decision to locate its newest Gigafactory in Austin will expand and enhance our innovative culture while also providing new and exciting career opportunities for all segments of our Central Texas workforce. The company’s pioneering spirit and advanced manufacturing technologies will be instrumental in our region’s economic recovery and our sustainable growth for the longer term.”

Tesla is expected to generate 5,000 direct jobs across the employment spectrum, from entry-level roles to skilled labor and management, with career pathways for those with and without a college degree, local officials noted. Tesla will generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for the local and state governments each year, as well as support thousands of new non-Tesla jobs due to its secondary economic effects, state officials said.

“In addition to the 5,000 new jobs and $1 billion facility investment, Travis County has been able to take a tract of land that paid $64,000 in tax revenue over 10 years and turn it into a tract that will pay $8 million in tax revenue during the same period,” said Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe. “I am proud of the agreement we have reached. It strikes a balance between incentivizing Tesla, securing significant community benefits, and ensuring protection of workers and the environment.”

The location will be the company’s fourth vehicle-assembly factory worldwide and second in the US, after its Fremont, California factory, Shanghai Gigafactory and forthcoming Berlin factory. The Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla Semi and Model 3 and Y for the eastern half of North America will be manufactured at the Texas Gigafactory. Both the Tesla Cybertruck and Semi are still being developed.

“The location is five minutes from Austin International National Airport and 15 minutes from Downtown Austin. It’s about 2,000 acres,” Musk stated during the earnings call. “And we're going to make it, I think, a factory that it's going to be stunning. It's right on the Colorado River. So we're actually going to have, we're going to have a boardwalk where there'll be a hiking, biking trail. It's going to basically be an ecological paradise, birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream."

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