Recent reports have indicated that Taiwan’s Pegatron has selected a site in El Paso, Texas, for an upcoming production facility that would provide parts for American electric car maker Tesla. The update was posted on Wednesday through a report from Taiwanese financial newspaper Commercial Times.
While Pegatron has stated that the details of its upcoming US plant, including its exact location and cost, are still in the planning stages, the company did note back in November that it intends to set up a production facility in the United States to be closer to its clients in the country. Considering that the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company is a Tesla supplier, speculations arose that the upcoming facility may be related to the EV maker.
Pegatron made a name for itself as the premier supplier of displays to companies like Apple, though the company has also noted that it sees the emerging electric vehicle sector as a major source of growth in the near future. This was highlighted by Pegatron chairman T.H. Tung, who has adopted an optimistic stance on the EV segment, particularly in regions such as Europe, where aggressive initiatives are underway to retire the combustion engine.
Tesla’s growing business with Pegatron was hinted at back in December when fellow Taiwanese news agency DigiTimes reported that the display maker has seen increased orders for the Model 3’s central control system in the fourth quarter. This order was largely seen as a hint of Tesla’s ambitious goals for 2021, as indicated by its stellar production and delivery numbers in the first quater this year.
The Taiwanese news outlet also remarked that Pegatron was assessing plans to build dedicated facilities in the US, one of which would be designed specifically to cater to Tesla’s demand. It appears that Pegatron is indeed taking the necessary steps to ensure that its business with Tesla is as smooth as possible based on recent news about the company. El Paso is an interesting choice for a site that would likely support Tesla, considering it is over 500 miles away from Travis County.
Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas is being built at an incredible speed, with production equipment such as Giga Presses and production robots already being installed on the site. With such a pace, it would not be surprising if Giga Texas ends up starting pilot production of the Made-in-Texas Model Y, or perhaps even the Tesla Cybertruck, by the end of the year.
