Tesla Opens Its Global Engineering Headquarters In Palo Alto, California| FXMAG.COM

Criticism of the region
The meeting
Tesla in California
Tesla in Texas
Production
Tesla share price

The car company, led by Musk, is in expansion mode to meet its goal of selling 20 million vehicles a year by the end of the decade. Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday to tour the automaker's new engineering headquarters.

Criticism of the region

Musk moved Tesla's headquarters to Texas from Silicon Valley in 2021, saying at the time that the company's ability to scale up in the San Francisco Bay Area was limited. He had previously compared California to a sports team that had rested on its laurels after a series of victories.

The company has since opened vehicle manufacturing facilities in China, Texas and Germany.

On Wednesday, Musk said Tesla will continue to invest in California even as it expands elsewhere.

The meeting

Tesla initiated the meeting after several previous attempts to establish talks.

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The meeting at Tesla's engineering office in Palo Alto, California, focused on the company's efforts to create jobs and expand in the state.

The expansion will focus on hiring engineers proficient in research development and artificial intelligence. Tesla takes over the lease of office space previously occupied by Hewlett-Packard. The plans will help accelerate the development of autonomous driving and robot technology.

Musk said the new facility is "actually Tesla's headquarters" and that it's "kind of a two-headquarters company." Tesla's headquarters are in Austin, Texas.

Tesla in California

Tesla maintains a presence in Silicon Valley even after moving its headquarters to Texas, and employs about 48,000 people in California, which is more than a third of the company's global workforce at year-end.

Many of these employees work across the San Francisco Bay in Fremont, California, where the company's first automobile plant is located. This plant is capable of producing approximately 650,000 vehicles per year.

Tesla has had layoffs in California over the past year. Last year Tesla laid off more than 200 people when it closed its San Mateo , California office . The site was home to employees who worked on Tesla's advanced driver assistance system known as Autopilot.

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Other companies run by Mr. Musk also have a presence in California. Twitter Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco, and rocket company SpaceX is based in Hawthorne.

Tesla in Texas

Tech companies were among the first to send employees home at the start of the pandemic, and many of the industry's top players have allowed their employees to work remotely on a permanent basis. This shift has prompted many Silicon Valley workers and startup CEOs to relocate to other parts of the country in search of cheaper housing, less traffic, and a better quality of life.

Texas, and especially its capital Austin, has attracted more tech companies and startups in recent years, offering lower taxes and less regulation than California and cheaper real estate.

Musk moved Tesla's headquarters to Texas from Silicon Valley in 2021. Tesla is considering a more than $775 million expansion to its electric vehicle plant near Austin, Texas, indicating the automaker is maintaining ambitions to increase production.

Chief Executive Elon Musk said last year that the company could open 10 to 12 new factories to boost production to meet its goal of selling 20 million vehicles by the end of the decade.

Production

Tesla last week reported vehicle deliveries for 2022 that fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Those estimates have already fallen after the automaker signaled in October that it would ship fewer vehicles than it originally intended.

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Despite challenges, including temporary production disruptions at its factory in China due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Tesla increased vehicle shipments by 40% last year compared to the previous year, handing over approximately 1.31 million vehicles.

Tesla is also facing more competition in the electric vehicle market as more traditional car companies enter the market.