Alibaba plans to invest $2B in Türkiye

E-commerce giant Alibaba is planning to invest $2 billion in Türkiye, its Turkish unit Trendyol has said.

The announcement on Monday came after Michael Evans, the president of Alibaba, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday.

Evans told Erdogan that Alibaba has invested $1.4 billion in the country via Trendyol thanks to the e-commerce giant's confidence in Türkiye's sound economic fundamentals.

He shared details with the Turkish president about new investments such as the data centre and logistics centre in Ankara and the export operations centre at Istanbul Airport.

Tesla factory in Türkiye

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in New York, inviting him to Türkiye and asking him to establish Tesla's seventh factory there.

During the meeting, which took place at the Turkish House (also called Turkevi) in Manhattan, Erdogan informed Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, about "Türkiye' s technological breakthroughs as well as the ‘Digital Türkiye’ vision and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy," Türkiye's Communications Directorate said in a statement.

Reminding that with the Turkish electric car Togg hitting the roads in Türkiye, Tesla entered the Turkish market, Erdogan called on Tesla to establish its seventh factory in Türkiye, said the statement.

"President Erdogan stated that opportunities for collaboration with SpaceX may arise through the steps taken and to be taken as part of Türkiye's space program and invited Musk to Teknofest to be held in Izmir," it added.

According to the statement from the Turkish Communications Directorate, Musk in return said that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla and that Türkiye is among the most important candidates for the next factory.

In response to President Erdogan's offer of cooperation with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service as well as in artificial intelligence, Musk said they wish to work with Turkish authorities to obtain the necessary license to offer Starlink satellite services in Türkiye, the statement said.

During the meeting, Erdogan also mentioned Türkiye's success in producing Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), while Musk responded by saying that he was aware of the world's interest in Bayraktar drones, the statement added.