Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed today he has personally relocated to Texas, saying his previous home state of California had become too complacent and suffered from over regulation.
The comments, made during an interview at the WSJ CEO Council Summit on Tuesday, follow our previous report the CEO was planning a move to the Lone Star state.
Using the analogy of a sports team, Musk said California has been winning for too long leading to complacency and too many regulations that stifle innovation.
“They do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled, and then they don’t win the championship anymore. California has been winning for a long time. And I think they’re taking them for granted a little bit.”
While the move is strictly personal for now, Musk did hint at the possibility his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, could also move out of California in the future if the regulatory environment in California doesn’t change.
“First of all, Tesla and SpaceX obviously have massive operations in California. In fact, it’s worth noting that Tesla is the last car company still manufacturing cars in California. SpaceX is the last aerospace company still doing significant manufacturing in California. There used to be over a dozen car plants in California. And California used to be the center of aerospace manufacturing. My companies are the last two left…That’s a very important point to make.”
With the move, Musk will be able to focus more of his efforts on the ongoing construction of Giga Texas, which is scheduled to open in mid-2021. When open, it will manufacture the Model Y, Cybertruck, and Semi.
The CEO will also be able to spend more time at Boca Chia, where SpaceX is developing their Starship. The company was hoping to do a test flight today of SN8, but the launch was aborted with just 1.3 seconds left in the countdown.
You can watch Elon Musk’s full interview below.
