BUFFALO, N.Y. — State leaders are responding as Tesla is reportedly cancelling its planned supercomputer installation at the Riverbend plant in South Buffalo. Their reactions stem in part from a renewed push for the state to re-consider lease renewal talks with the company even as the company employs over a thousand people.
Back in January 2024 Governor Kathy Hochul was really banging the drum for Dojo and Tesla as she said this at a press conference discussing UB’s AI Center supercomputer program. “I’m also proud to announce that Tesla is investing 500 Million dollars to build their next supercomputer right here in Buffalo. – How about that?” She was pleased to announce two new supercomputer projects in the Buffalo area.
Now just over a year and half later, the state’s Empire State Development agency is recognizing reports from Bloomberg and other websites that the corporate promised half billion supercomputer project is gone. This is the statement from ESD: “ESD is aware of recent news reports about the discontinuation of Tesla’s Dojo project. While the state has not funded Dojo , ESD is contacting the company to understand the potential impacts to its Riverbend operations, its contractual obligations to the state, and its ongoing negotiations with ESD.”
The Verge website reports Dojo has been pushed aside with top Tesla staffing departures and an apparent decision by CEO Elon Musk to outsource their AI development and in house program tied to Tesla self driving Autopilot program – which has itself been hit by various legal issues with some fatal crash lawsuits.
Websites also note that Tesla does not have a communications team for a corporate response.
This all comes as the state has been negotiating with Tesla for a new five year lease of the South Buffalo property which was built and originally equipped with over $950 Million dollars in state taxpayer money. That was to be in exchange for certain workforce level commitments which apparently Tesla has met with the over 1,600 current factory employees.
But ESD documents indicate a new deal was supposed to include the half billion dollar supercomputer with the tech firm to face significant rental cost penalties if the company did not follow through on that plan.
Some state lawmakers who were previously frustrated with Tesla’s dealings with the state are now even more upset. That follows layoffs of some staffers last year and alleged previous opposition to efforts to form a union.
State Assemblymember Pat Burke , who has the Tesla plant in his district, spoke by phone over the weekend with 2 On Your Side. He said “Tesla is not in a strong position right now. It hasn’t been in a strong position and it’s an overvalued company. And we need to open up this process to any other potential partners for the site.”
Burke added “Something is presented to the public and it is pulled back. A commitment is made and then it is pulled back. We gotta stop playing this game with them.”
State Senator Sean Ryan, who is for now still the Chair of the Senate Commerce, Economic Development, and Small Business Committee, said “This is just the latest example of Tesla failing to deliver on its promises. Dojo was sold as an investment that would bring new jobs to Buffalo. If those jobs are no longer coming, the state should factor the change of plans into ongoing negotiations.”
Two New York City area lawmakers also introduced earlier this year so – called “DOGE bills” obviously aimed at Tesla in Buffalo which call for greater scrutiny of any state agency involvement with a company that has “supercomputer hardware” and “advanced driver assistance” programs as well as solar energy projects and vehicle charging equipment production. Those bills are currently in state legislature committees while lawmakers are out of session.