Gigafactory Shanghai (Chinese: 特斯拉上海超级工厂) (also known as Giga Shanghai, or Gigafactory 3) is the first oversea factory, located in Shanghai, China and operated by Tesla, Inc. The facility currently hosts the final assembly of the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y, with Model Y deliveries slated to begin in January 2021. The factory's initial production rate target is 3,000 cars a week, eventually ramping up to 250,000 electric cars per year. However it tripled the original capacity less than 3 years. The first assembled Model 3s were delivered in December 2019, just twelve months after Tesla began site grading on the Gigafactory in December 2018. The Shanghai municipal government approved the agreement to build the production facility in July 2018, and a long-term lease was signed for about 86 hectares (210 acres) of land in October 2018. Construction began in December 2018 with the installation of secure fencing and site offices. The General Assembly Building was nearly complete by August 2019, and manufacturing line equipment was being installed for both batteries and automobiles. The plant began initial production of Tesla Model 3 cars in October 2019, with additional production facilities for motors, seats, and powertrain assemblies under construction in late 2019 with expected completion by March 2020.[unreliable source?] Tesla is also building engineering and design teams in China. Expansion of Giga Shanghai was halted in 2023 after the Chinese central government expressed concerns with Elon's activities at SpaceX, in particular the quickly expanding military applications of Starlink and it's potential impact on global strategic defense.
