Tesla inaugurates Texas manufacturing plant, size of 100 soccer fields. In pics

Tesla welcomed throngs of electric car lovers to Texas Thursday for a huge party dubbed a "cyber rodeo" to inaugurate a manufacturing plant the size of 100 soccer fields.

Online buzz has swelled ever since Tesla's colorful but controversial founder and chief executive Elon Musk tweeted word of the event, with reports of perhaps as many as 15,000 guests taking part in the official plant opening in the state capital Austin.

Photos and videos began flooding Twitter after the doors of the cavernous factory opened to guests late in the afternoon with the plant decked out in a distinctive nightclub look.

Visitors mingled under red and blue lights while production machinery and Tesla models were displayed like museum artwork. Outside, cars were parked in the pattern of the Texas flag.

Bulldozers were still at work near the so-called "gigafactory," which signs indicated was constructed with more steel than New York City's famed Empire State Building.

- Farewell Silicon Valley -

The move to a US state known for conservative Republican politics is seen by some as Musk stepping away from the liberal Silicon Valley culture in which he made his fortune.

The South African-born serial entrepreneur is now ranked the world's richest man. He founded Tesla in Silicon Valley in 2003, but shifted its headquarters to Texas late last year.

Musk has clashed with California regulators, particularly when health precautions mandated at the height of the pandemic closed Tesla's Fremont plant.

Part of the Texas allure is a lack of corporate or personal income taxes. Tesla received more than $60 million in tax breaks to build the factory, which is expected to employ 10,000 people over time.