Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in Palo Alto today with California Governor Gavin Newsom, to announce that the company would be setting up its “global engineering headquarters” in the state.
The two men stood in front of a building that was the former headquarters of Hewlett-Packard, which Tesla will now take over. Musk called the moment “poetic,” noting that his company’s engineering base would now be located in the former home of the company that founded Silicon Valley.
“We’re excited to announce that Tesla’s global engineering headquarters will be right here in the former headquarters of Hewlett-Packard,” Musk said. “This is a poetic transition from the company that founded Silicon Valley to Tesla.”
The announcement was livestreamed by Tesla on Twitter, another Silicon Valley company now owned by Musk. Neither the automaker nor the CEO offered many more details about the move. After the event, the company did write on Twitter that it was hiring for engineering roles in Palo Alto.
Read: Tesla Moving HQ To Texas, Cybertruck Still A Year Away, Says Musk
The move is a potential sign that tensions between Musk and the state of California are thawing. At the event, Governor Newsom said that it was a “point of pride for me that Tesla is a California company.”
Although Tesla was founded and still has a significant presence in California, Elon Musk, who is one of the richest men on earth, announced in 2020 that he was moving to Texas, which has no income taxes. He also accused California of having too much bureaucracy. Shortly after the announcement, Tesla’s headquarters was relocated to Texas.
Despite the move, Governor Newsom has applauded Musk’s “visionary spirit” and highlighted California’s EV-friendly policies and tax incentives. In response, Musk thanked Newsom for being one of the first people to put down a $100,000 deposit for a Tesla Roadster. However, Newsom’s excitement about the announcement may be due to his still-unfulfilled order for a Roadster, which is now three years overdue.
