Tesla shifting headquarters to Texas from California

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday the electric automaker prepares to shift its headquarters from Silicon Valley‘s Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas, where it is constructing a massive car and battery manufacturing complex.

Tesla joins Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Toyota in shifting U.S. headquarters to Texas from California.

“I’m excited to announce that we’re moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” Musk informed the company’s annual meeting, held in the Texas car factory.

“This is not a matter of, sort of, Tesla leaving California,” he said, saying it plans to boost output from its main California factory and Nevada factory by 50%.

The Fremont, California factory nonetheless is “jammed” and it is tough for people to afford houses in California, he added.