In an email Friday morning, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told employees the company was cutting seven percent of its full-time workforce.

Musk says Tesla is trying to cut costs as it increases the production of a more affordable version of the company’s Model 3 electric vehicle. While the $750 million state subsidized gigafactory in Buffalo produces solar roof technology, not cars, it appears it will still be affected.

A spokesperson for Tesla would not give a headcount of how many Buffalo employees could be laid off, but Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state was told the cutback may affect 50 people. At last notice, the company had roughly 400 employees in the facility, but there are another 400 Panasonic employees as well.

That 800 employee total counts toward the company’s agreement with the state and therefore it has already exceeded a benchmark of 500 workers in the building by April.

“They’ve also committed to us that this does not affect whatsoever their commitment to Buffalo, their desire to continue with the production line for the solar panels, so this maybe seems to be a temporary setback but we’re going to continue moving forward and the rest of the jobs will be protected,” Hochul said.

However, the company still has a way to go to reach its April 2020 goal of 1,460 factory Buffalo jobs. Hochul said the state would continue to monitor the situation.

“We don’t control what a company like Tesla does,” she said. “We deal with the impacts but we still know that there’s a place that will have over 750 jobs which is far more than it had the decades that that property was laying fallow.”

The new Assembly member representing South Buffalo, Pat Burke, said his constituents aren’t going to be pleased by the news and he plans to relay that to the company.

“It’s the jobs here that matter,” he said. “It’s the future of that plant that matters. If they’re going to take the benefits, and they’ve taken benefits from multiple government agencies, then they should follow through on their promises.”

However, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-NY, said setbacks can be expected when dealing with emerging technology, but still believes solar is the future.

“I think we have to stay the course and I think in 10 years, we’ll see full employment at that plant,” he said.

The state has continued to point out it owns the Tesla facility and has claw backs built into the agreement with the company should it not meet its employment goals.

Empire State Development released a statement Friday afternoon, saying:

"Tesla indicates that their company-wide actions do not alter their long-term commitment to Buffalo, and will not impact future production and plans for Tesla’s products, including the Solar Roof manufactured at RiverBend. There are approximately 800 people working at the gigafactory currently, which exceeds the required commitment of 500 employees by April."