Tesla (TSLA) is officially moving headquarters to Texas, says Elon Musk

Elon Musk announced that Tesla is officially moving its headquarters to Austin, Texas – something he threatened to do in the past.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Musk said that Tesla would leave California after he grew frustrated with the restrictions that made it hard for the automaker to restart production.

Soon after, Tesla announced plans to build a large factory and complex in Austin, but the automaker’s headquarters remained in Palo Alto.

Musk himself officially relocated to Texas and there have been rumors that Tesla would soon follow.

At Tesla’s 2021 shareholder’s meeting, the CEO confirmed that Tesla is moving its headquarters to Austin.

However, Musk made a point of saying that Tesla would continue to grow its presence in California:

We are continuing to expand our presence in California, we are not leaving California, but we are hitting the sides of the bowl.

Musk said that Tesla plans to grow vehicle production at Fremont factory by 50%.

This time, the CEO didn’t talk about politics in California, but instead said that Tesla “took it to as far as it could in the Bay Area.”

He added that it’s hard for employees to afford houses and he believes that Tesla will be more competitive in Austin.

Musk didn’t specify where Tesla’s headquarters are going to be in Austin, but it sounds like it will be around the Gigafactory Texas site since the CEO again referenced the “ecological paradise” that they plan to build at the site.

The CEO previously described the site Tesla plans to build at Gigafactory Austin:

It’s about 2,000 acres and we’re going to make it a factory that is going to be stunning. It’s right on the Colorado River. So we’re actually going to have a boardwalk, where there’ll be a hiking/biking trail. It’s going to basically be an ecological paradise, birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream, and it’ll be open to the public as well. So not closed and only Tesla.

There was no word on the timing of moving the headquarters.