SAN FRANCISCO—The technology company Digital Realty announced on Thursday, January 14 that it will relocate its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Austin, Texas.
CEO A. William Stein said in a news release that the company is “confident” that its “expansion” in Texas will assist in meeting “the needs of our more than 4,000 global customers, while continuing to deliver value for our stakeholders, employees, and the communities we serve” globally.
On January 19, Digital Realty tweeted:
“Our new HQ will be in Austin, Texas! We have 4.2 million square feet of property across Texas – 30+ data centers and 118 megawatts of IT Load featuring nearly 20% of our North American employee base and rising!”
Stein, who has been CEO since 2014, said Texas’ “central location, affordable cost of living, highly educated workforce and supportive business climate” made the state “an epicenter for business activity and technology growth.”
Although its headquarters will relocate to Austin, Digital Realty in San Francisco will still “maintain a significant presence.” Moving to Austin, the company states, will “better serve its increasingly global customer base.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state is “excited” that Digital Realty chose “Texas as the new home for their corporate headquarters” and says he will continue promoting “common-sense policies that create a welcoming business climate and bring even more jobs” to the state, the press release indicates.
Digital Realty is not the first company to announce it is moving out of the state of California. Financial technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) revealed on December 1 that it will move its global headquarters from Silicon Valley to Houston, Texas.
Abbott said on Twitter that Texas is “the best place in America to do business” after HPE’s announcement.
Oracle also announced in December that it moved it headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin. Abbott called Texas “truly the land of businesses, jobs, and opportunity” and said the state “will continue to attract the very best,” in a December 11 tweet.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, confirmed in December 2020 that he moved to Texas from California and expressed his desire to move the headquarters of both companies.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who represents Texas, welcomed Musk in a tweet, saying “Texas loves jobs & we’re very glad to have you as a Texan.”
San Francisco News reached out to Tesla and SpaceX about possible relocation plans, but did not receive a response before print.
After filing for bankruptcy, the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced on January 15 that it is relocating to Texas.
Numerous technology executives have left or expressed a desire to leave CA. Rental company U-Haul revealed on January 4 that more of its trucks left than entered CA than any other state in the year 2020.
Keith Rabois, former technology executive at Silicon Valley for companies PayPal and Yelp, said in November 2020 that he is moving to the state of Florida.
Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey had plans to move to Africa, but has not moved as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Zillow’s Urban-Suburban Market Report in 2020, more homes in San Francisco are on the market than ever before and is the only biggest city to be happening to.
