Elon Musk announces Tesla headquarters to move to Texas

Elon Musk told shareholders on Thursday that Tesla’s headquarters will be moving to Austin, Texas, citing the high cost of housing in California’s Bay Area where the company is currently located.

“We’re taking it as far as possible, but there’s a limit how big you can scale it in the Bay Area,” Musk said according to The Associated Press. “Just to be clear, though, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California. This is not a matter of leaving California.”

Elon made this announcement while speaking from Tesla’s manufacturing plant in Austin, the AP reported. Despite this move, Musk said Tesla still planned on expanding operations in Fremont, California, hoping to boost output by 50 percent.

“Mr. Musk’s announcement highlights yet again the urgency for California to address our housing affordability crisis and the many other challenges that make it so difficult for companies to grow here,” Jim Wunderman, head of the business advocacy group Bay Area Council, said.

Last year, Musk revealed in an interview that he had personally relocated to Texas due to what he referred to as a complacency in Silicon Valley.

“If a team has been winning for too long, they do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled, and then they don’t win the championship anymore. California has been winning for too long,” Musk told Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray.

The AP noted that Tesla’s move follows similar moves made by Silicon Valley companies like Oracle Corp. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, with both moving to Texas due to the high cost of living in Silicon Valley.