A shipment of 4,340 Tesla electric vehicles is loaded onto a cargo ship at Shanghai Nangang Terminal, bound for Southampton Port in the UK, on September 6, 2023. Photo: VCG

US carmaker Tesla Inc. on Friday officially launched its new mega factory project that is capable of producing 10,000 Megapacks a year in Shanghai, the company announced, a fresh example showing US companies' investment confidence in China. 

The factory, which is located in the Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, is scheduled to start construction in the first quarter of 2024 and put into production in the fourth quarter of the same year. 

The initial plan of the plant is to produce 10,000 Megapack units per year, equal to nearly 40GWh of energy storage. The products will be sold worldwide, according to the release sent to the Global Times. 

Megapack is a large-scale, highly integrated energy storage solution designed to help grid operators, utilities and independent power producers store and distribute renewable energy more efficiently, according to the company. 

Tesla started its operation in January 2019 in Shanghai and the company has continued to increase investment there, including expanding the production capacity of the Shanghai Gigafactory and building more facilities including a supercharger manufacturing plant.

The ramping up of investment came as several top executives from US companies paid in-person visits to China and expressed their strong interest in taking part in China's development and pragmatic economic and trade cooperation between China and the US.

On Tuesday, Shanghai Party chief Chen Jining met with Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co, and welcomed the company to further increase investment layout in Shanghai, a day before Shanghai Disney Resort opened the world's first Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disneyland.

The company's commitment to continue to invest in China is unwavering, Iger said during the meeting, according to the WeChat account of the information office of Shanghai Municipality.

Earlier this month on December 7, China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Microsoft President Brad Smith, noting that China welcomes multinational companies to continue to do business in the country and strives to promote high-quality development and high-level opening-up.

That high-standard opening-up should be expanded is also one of the listed priorities in nine aspects at the annual Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing last week.

The meeting called for nurturing strategic emerging industries including biological manufacturing, commercial space industry and low-altitude economy, and opening up new arenas for future industries such as quantum technology and life sciences, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

Global Times