Tesla Leases 500,000-sq-ft Factory in Silicon Valley

Tesla Motors Inc. has leased a large factory building near its Fremont, Calif., plant, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.

Tesla confirms the deal and tells the newspaper it will use the 500,000-sq-ft facility to "expand our manufacturing and build more engineering labs."

The factory formerly was used by Solyndra LLC to make solar panels and previously has housed Xerox, Tandem and Hewlett-Packard operations.