Silicon Valley powerhouses have not released any “moving sales” signs, and a few high-profile departures raise questions about the state of the region.
Messaging: Oracle’s Friday announcement that it will move its headquarters to Austin follows the previous move by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Texas, to Houston.
Reality check: These companies did not close their California offices. They have made legal addresses a part of getting away from the taxes and regulations of the state.
- Tesla founder Elon Musk, who has been battling California over labor issues amid infection controls, recently announced he was moving from Los Angeles to Texas, which is likely to save a fortune on personal taxes.
Between the lines: The companies that lead to this wave emanating from Silicon Valley represent the most conservative segment of the industry.
Think about their moves Businesses and individuals choose where they want to live as part of America’s current “big genre” based on their political and cultural connections to the “blue” or “red” tribes.
Environment: Oracle is a valuable database authority, but it has never been at the forefront of technology companies. HPE was a piece of the powerful Hewlett Packard at a time when the focus was on corporate hardware and services. (Remains of the old Hewlett Packard are in the valley.)
- You won’t find anyone on Sand Hill Road who believes that the departure of these companies says nothing about their ability to continue the innovations of Silicon Valley.
Large image: The “technical evacuation” from the San Francisco Bay Area is a permanent feature of the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Every turn in the technology business cycle brings new waves of engineers, entrepreneurs and start-ups with a housing hunger – leaving others constantly taking up space.
- Technological advances and early discoveries have been spreading steadily beyond Silicon Valley over the decades, and numerous U.S. regions have attempted to transform into Silicon Valley / alleys / beaches / deserts.
- As Axios’ Jim Vandehi and Mike Allen argue, America’s scattered urban centers will be laboratories for many new industries that will change the world of technology, including 5G, autonomous vehicles and “smart cities” systems.
- Other waves of growing technology from AI to the cloud industry to quantum computing are more likely to advance into technology-giant complexes.
Yes, but: Technological advances over the past two decades have been concentrated in five major coastal cities (San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, San Jose and Boston), Axios’ Kim Hart announced a year ago.
Capture: With new companies bouncing in Austin, Boulder and other regions, there are hardly any plans or hopes of becoming the next technology company.
- For most, the game plan is still there: get an idea, get growth, buy – usually by the largest West Coast company.
Infection-driven change Remote technology work can provide an opportunity for other regions to shift the power imbalance of the industry. But the way many Silicon Valley CEOs see it, the change is that their companies can now have the best of both worlds – individual centers rooted in the Bay Area’s cultural network of networks of global talents.
- Even before the epidemic, the giants of Silicon Valley were looking outside the region for growth.
- For example, Apple recently opened a major hub in Los Angeles and expanded its operations in Austin.
Underline: Neither Google nor Facebook has shown the slightest interest in moving their home sites, and Apple’s $ 5 billion UFO-style headquarters can’t exactly take the plane.