Elon Musk to take Boring to China as he doubles down on country’s drive towards advanced infrastructure
- Underground tunnelling operation has yet to complete a commercial venture in US but is engaged in several city projects
For a country known for spending inordinate sums on colossal infrastructure projects such as the world’s longest high-speed railway network, the world’s largest sea-bridge linking Hong Kong and Macau, and the largest power station in the world at the Three Gorges Dam, having another ambitious builder join the fray could be deemed as, well, boring.
Nevertheless, interest has been piqued after Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk announced that he will bring his underground tunnelling operation, Boring Company, to China later this month.
According to a tweet from Musk, he will announce plans to launch a China unit of Boring during his attendance at this month’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Responding to a question on Twitter as to whether Boring would get involved in underwater tunnels, Musk replied “yes” without elaborating.
Founded in 2016, Boring was created by Musk to solve “soul-destroying traffic” problems by using tunnels. While the venture is yet to complete any commercial project, it is building a loop system connecting two ends of the Las Vegas Convention Centre and has proposed US projects in Los Angeles, Chicago and a connection between Baltimore and Washington DC.
Boring’s first international foray comes as Tesla builds its first manufacturing plant outside the US in Shanghai - Gigafactory 3 - after receiving approval from Chinese authorities to be the first electric vehicle factory wholly owned by a foreign company under new regulations. Construction began in January 2019.