- Elon Musk thinks Austin, Texas, is the next big thing.
- The city will be the ‘largest tree city’ the U.S. has had in 50 years, he said on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
- The Tesla CEO is moving to Texas after talks with California’s public health officials.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
It’s no secret that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is over California.
Last summer, Musk selected Austin, Texas, as the site for a $ 1 billion factory that will build the Cybertruck, the automaker’s long-awaited electric pickup truck. And in December, he confirmed rumors that he was picking up and moving from Los Angeles to the Lone Star State.
Musk said during an interview “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which dropped Thursday, that he thinks Austin has great potential in addition to housing him and his new factory.
“It will be at least the largest tree city America has seen in 50 years,” Musk said. “Mega boom.”
The CEO said Tesla chooses Austin as the location for Tesla’s next US plant because “Austin is a bit like mini-California.” According to Musk, he asked Tesla’s team in California what would be their best choice for a new factory – where they wanted to spend time – and the “first choice was Austin.”
Read more: Elon Musk and other tech powerhouses are flocking to Texas, pushing an already turbulent real estate market to new heights. Look at Austin, which is fast becoming the next Silicon Valley.
Musk announced his move to Texas after public discussions in 2020 with California public health officials about COVID-19 restrictions that temporarily shut down the plant in Fremont, California, in Tesla. “Tesla will now move its headquarters and future programs to Texas / Nevada immediately,” he said. tweeted last May during a dispute with local officials.
During a call with investors in April, Musk went on a tirade, criticizing California’s shelter measures as “fascist” and saying officials “caught” people by force in their homes.
Looser government regulations there – along with no government revenue tax – appear to be a clear incentive for Musk’s relocation to Texas. But the billionaire said the wave of West Coasters moving to Austin should keep the city from changing too much.
“I think we need to make sure that … people moving out of California here do not accidentally recreate the problems that made them move in the first place,” Musk said during Thursday’s interview.
An increasing number of business leaders and businesses have moved from traditional hubs like Silicon Valley to Texas because the pandemic has forced many people to work remotely.
Late last year, software giant Oracle said it would move its headquarters from California to Austin. Dropbox CEO Drew Houston is also reportedly moving to the city, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale has said he will move his venture capital firm 8VC there as well.