Elon Musk is doubling down on his commitment to Texas by vowing to move SpaceX’s massive headquarters from its long-time Hawthorne, California home to the Lone Star State.
Musk later said that he would move the headquarters of his social media platform X from San Francisco, California, to Austin, Texas — where his other company, Tesla, is headquartered. SpaceX will be headquartered in Starbase, where the company operates a massive Starship manufacturing and testing site.
“Have had enough of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building,” he posted on X. Regarding the SpaceX move, Musk said “the final straw” was the passage of a California bill signed this week by Governor Gavin Newsom that prohibits schools from creating or enforcing policies that would require employees to disclose students’ sexuality or gender identity to anyone without their consent — like parents. Musk said this law, “and the many others that precede it,” attack “both families and companies.”
Musk’s declaration has precedent. Tesla announced it would move its headquarters from California to Austin, Texas back in 2021 — although the automaker still has a sizable footprint in the Golden state, including its assembly plant in Fremont.
Musk has already tied his companies to the Lone Star State in other ways, too: SpaceX officially changed its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas in February, a move that was a response to a ruling from a Delaware judge over Musk’s $56 billion compensation package for his role as chief executive at Tesla. The same month, Musk also moved his brain implant company from Delaware to Nevada. Last month, Tesla shareholders voted not only to re-approve the massive pay package but also to reincorporate the company from Delaware to Texas.
SpaceX moved into former Northrop Corporation plant in 2007, a complex that has grown to more than 1 million square feet. Southern California has historically been a major aerospace hub, and that identity is true today, with companies ranging from massive primes like Boeing to dozens of startups finding their home in Los Angeles County.
X, which was formerly Twitter, has had its headquarters in San Francisco after being founded there in 2006.
The larger ramifications of the proposed move for both companies are unclear. For SpaceX, Hawthorne is not just its headquarters but also home to large production facilities for its Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft, as well as mission control. But if SpaceX and X follow the path of Tesla, it’s likely that much of the status quo will remain the same.
Regardless, Texas Governor Greg Abbott applauded Musk’s statement, saying that it cements his state’s status as “the leader in space exploration.”
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