Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and chief engineer, speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020 in Washington DC. Musk answered many questions about SpaceX projects during his appearance on the conference.
Elon Musk assured Tesla of its commitment to China and said that the automaker would continue to invest in China.
Musk's remarks were made in a prerecorded, question-and-answer stream at the World Internet Conference hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
This is the second time in a month that Musk has been highly complimentary of China, stating it's a "global leader in digitalization." Two weeks ago, Musk said that Chinese automakers were the most competitive in the world during a prerecorded stream at The World New Energy Vehicle Congress.
Musk stated in the latest video that "My honest observation is that China expends a lot resources and efforts applying digital technologies to different industries, including the automotive industry." "Tesla will continue expanding our investment and R&D efforts to China."
After a series of negative press, Tesla has worked to improve its image in China. There have been a few recalls in China and the company has come under scrutiny from regulators. According to reports, Beijing had banned or restricted the use of Tesla's electric cars by military and state personnel.
Musk spoke out about data protection, naming the types of data stored locally.
Musk stated that Tesla was happy to see the release of a variety of laws and regulations to improve data management.
Tesla has established a China data center to store all data generated by our business, including sales and service, in China. Without any transfer to overseas, all personally identifiable information is stored in China by security companies. Data can only be transferred internationally in extremely rare circumstances, such as spare parts orders from overseas.
In 2019, the company opened a major factory in Shanghai. In August, Tesla sold 44,264 Chinese-made vehicles, with 31,379 exported. This was an increase on the 32,968 China made vehicles sold in July, and 33,155 units in June.
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