What Happened to Gigafactory New York?

Gigafactory New York, officially known as Gigafactory 2, is a sprawling 1.2 million sq ft facility in Buffalo, New York, built on a remediated brownfield site that once housed a steel mill. Its origins trace back to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's ambitious "Buffalo Billion" stimulus package, announced in 2013, which aimed to revitalize the region with high-tech manufacturing jobs. The state committed significant funds, eventually totaling around $959 million, to construct and equip the factory, which would then be leased to a private company for a nominal fee.

Construction began in September 2014, with SolarCity, a solar energy company founded by Elon Musk's cousins and later acquired by Tesla, becoming the primary tenant after purchasing original tenant Silevo. The vision was to create the largest solar plant in the U.S., producing up to 1 gigawatt of solar panels annually by 2019. However, the project was plagued by delays, controversies, and criticisms from its early days, including allegations of inflated job promises, cost overruns, and a bid-rigging scandal involving state officials in 2018.

Following Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity in 2016, the factory's focus shifted to the highly anticipated Tesla Solar Roof tiles. In December 2016, Panasonic partnered with Tesla to manufacture photovoltaic cells and modules at the Buffalo factory, with production of the first PV modules beginning in summer 2017. Despite Elon Musk's ambitious predictions of producing 1,000 Solar Roofs weekly, commercial production of the shingles didn't start until March 2020, and the product proved challenging to scale. Panasonic ultimately decided to exit the solar cell manufacturing partnership in Buffalo by September 2020, leaving Tesla to operate the factory alone.

In the wake of Panasonic's departure and ongoing scrutiny over job creation commitments, Tesla diversified the factory's activities. It began producing Superchargers and employing data analysts for its Autopilot software at the site. The company received multiple extensions to meet its job targets, which were tied to significant financial penalties if not met. By the end of 2025, Tesla reported a statewide headcount exceeding 3,460 employees, including 2,399 full-time workers at the Buffalo factory, thereby fulfilling its commitments to New York State. This achievement secured the factory's future, with a new lease agreement drafted in 2024 that could run through 2034, increasing job requirements and rent payments.

A significant development in late 2025 and early 2026 was Tesla's renewed focus on its solar business, specifically the in-house production of conventional residential solar panels. In October 2025, Tesla announced it had started producing its own new solar panel at Gigafactory New York, with first deliveries expected in Q1 2026. In January 2026, Tesla launched a US-made 420-watt solar panel (TSP-420) assembled at the Buffalo plant, marking its first fully designed and manufactured solar panel. This pivot came as Tesla quietly discontinued its Solar Roof tile product in August 2026, informing third-party installers it would no longer supply the tiles and redirecting customers to conventional solar panels. The Buffalo facility's current solar panel production capacity is a modest 300 MW per year, with plans for larger-scale solar panel manufacturing in Texas. Despite past controversies and the end of the Solar Roof, Gigafactory New York continues to be a key site for Tesla's energy and AI initiatives, employing thousands and contributing to the company's evolving sustainable energy strategy.