Tesla Inc. and California appear to be warming up to each other again as the electric vehicle maker announced it will establish a "global engineering headquarters" in Palo Alto, California.
In 2021 the automaker partially exited the state, relocating its corporate offices to Texas. Tesla made the move partly to save around $2.5 billion in capital gains taxes.
On Wednesday California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Tesla CEO Elon Musk stood side by side at an event announcing the new headquarters as a sign of cooperation between the two.
Gov. Newsom said "Tesla is a California company."
Tesla's new headquarters for its engineering operation will take over what was once the headquarters for Hewlett Packard, Musk said.
Newsom told the crowd that was gathered for the event, "applaud everybody, there's a lot to be excited about."
Tesla charging ports will soon be usable by other electric vehicles
Though this will make EV charging more accessible, many are pushing for regulation of prices.
"I couldn't be more proud of California's commitment to support Tesla," Newsom said.
Newsom and Musk later went on to banter during the live-streamed event about how much money each of the two have.
"Mine went negative for a while," Musk said, talking about his bank account.
Newsom responded, "I got a pension, so."
California's government is looking to promote and retain the number of engineers and AI experts in the state, and to continue supporting the quantities of patents that entities in the state hold.
Tesla's corporate headquarters remain in Texas.
