While Silicon Valley ’ s tech migration to Austin ( A . K . A . Silicon Hills ) began in 2019 , mainly tech unicorns like Katerra and Juul Labs , since the onset of the pandemic and Elon Musk calling it ( in May 2020 , Musk Tweeted he was moving Tesla HQ to Austin ) the big tech transition to the Texan capital has snowballed . By November 2020 , Oracle and Hewlett Packard had announced HQ relocations there ; followed this year by Digital Realty , fintechs Harmonate and Green Dot , software firm Markaaz , and venture capital firm 8VC led by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale . So , what ’ s the deal ? Well , aside from Austin ’ s lower corporate taxes , looser regulation , and affordable living , the availability of top talent is the main pull . And with Tesla ’ s and Apple ’ s construction here of a 2.400-acre Gigafactory and US $ 1bn campus , respectively , and Lonsdale ’ s vision of an experimental Beta City , Silicon Valley 2.0 could be on the horizon .

12 June 2021