This is slated to help further its development of autonomous driving and robot technology.
While announcing its expansion plans on February 22, Tesla tweeted, “In 2022, we grew to 47k direct employees & $5B of capital investment in California. Today, we’re continuing our investment in California with our new Engineering HQ in Palo Alto.”
The company said that its global headquarters remains in Austin, but the new facility in Palo Alto will act as the main hub for Tesla Engineering.
The firm said its product impact across the state will include vehicle design, megapack production, hardware & software engineering, vehicle & battery manufacturing, and battery development & testing.
The firm has taken over the lease for office space vacated by Hewlett-Packard in California.
“This was HP’s original headquarters, and so I think it’s a poetic transition from the founders of Silicon Valley to Tesla, and we’re very excited to make this our global engineering headquarters,” Musk told CNBC.
Troubling times for Tesla in California
The endorsement from the state for future expansion comes after some distressing times for Tesla.
According to CNBC, the company had faced a lawsuit from California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing regarding racism towards black workers in its plant.
Its Department of Motor Vehicles had also accused the firm based on it utilizing misleading advertising campaigns concerning its advanced driver assistance programs.