Meta also moves to Silicon Hills... Office building lease contract

Half of Austin's Super-Tall Buildings Leased

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Meta (formerly Facebook) has decided to lease half of the skyscraper it is building in Austin, the capital of Texas. The parade of big tech companies representing Silicon Valley, such as IBM, Dell, and Apple, moving to Austin continues.

On the 9th (local time), Bloomberg News cited the Austin Business Journal and reported that a lease agreement was signed on the 31st of last month for the 66-story tower under construction in downtown Austin.

The mixed-use building, offering commercial, residential, and office spaces, will be the tallest building in Austin (840 feet) and is scheduled to open next year.

Meta will use half of this building, which is the entire office space spanning 33 floors (589,000 square feet).

As Meta expands its new business site, it plans to relocate 2,000 employees from its branches and research centers to this location and hire an additional 400 new employees.

The background for Meta establishing a new base in Austin includes significantly low corporate tax rates and minimized regulations. Texas has no corporate or personal income tax, and its relatively few regulations create a pro-business environment and comparatively low cost of living, which are considered advantages.

In recent years, as major U.S. big tech companies have established bases here, the area has earned the nickname "Silicon Hills." This is because companies are packing up from Silicon Valley and settling in the western hill areas of Austin.

Leading U.S. electric vehicle company Tesla has begun the process of moving its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas, and plans to start operating its electric vehicle production plant, the "Gigafactory," in Austin this month.

Earlier, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which spun off from the Silicon Valley icon Hewlett-Packard, moved its headquarters from San Jose, Silicon Valley, to Houston, Texas, in December 2020, and global software company Oracle also relocated to Austin.

Apple is also building a new office building capable of accommodating about 7,000 employees with an investment of $1 billion, aiming to move in next year.

The Associated Press predicted that as remote work increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are seeking to relocate offices to more affordable areas, leading to continued expansion and entry into Silicon Hills.