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Tesla's Palo Alto story has three chapters. In 2009 the young carmaker leased a former Hewlett-Packard plant on Deer Creek Road and made it the company's headquarters. In 2021 it moved its official headquarters to Austin, Texas. Then in 2023 it returned to center stage in Palo Alto with a global engineering headquarters in the former Hewlett Packard Enterprise campus on Hanover Street.
Both sites are in Stanford Research Park, the business park on Stanford land along Page Mill Road and Foothill Expressway. Neither is open to the public. This profile explains what happened at each and why it mattered for the city.
Before Palo Alto: San Carlos
Tesla Motors was incorporated on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Elon Musk led the company's February 2004 funding round and became chairman. A 2009 legal settlement allows Eberhard, Tarpenning, Ian Wright, Musk and J. B. Straubel to call themselves co-founders.
The company's first home was in San Carlos, a few cities north of Palo Alto on the Peninsula. It built the Roadster, its first car, using a chassis from Lotus. By 2009 Tesla was running short of space and wanted to bring office staff and powertrain engineering under one roof.
3500 Deer Creek Road
On August 17, 2009, Tesla announced that it would lease a building of about 350,000 square feet at 3500 Deer Creek Road. The site covers 23 acres in Stanford Research Park. The company's announcement described it as a manufacturing complex formerly used by Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. Tesla planned to move its headquarters there from San Carlos and to build battery packs and other powertrain parts on site.
Local coverage at the time placed the parcel midway between Page Mill and Arastradero roads, above Foothill Expressway. Tesla expected to start with about 350 employees and have room for about 650 after renovation. The move was completed in 2010, the same year Tesla went public.
The Model S years
Deer Creek Road was Tesla's base during its most important growth spurt. The company designed the Model S sedan, bought a closed car plant in Fremont and turned itself from a niche sports car maker into a high volume manufacturer. Executives, engineers and designers worked out of Palo Alto, while vehicle assembly happened in Fremont.
For Palo Alto, Tesla was a new kind of research park tenant. Earlier tenants built instruments, chips and software. Tesla built cars, or at least the parts and plans for them. Its presence also helped keep the old HP buildings in the hills busy after HP and Agilent shrank their local footprint. For background on those HP buildings, see our Hewlett-Packard profile.
The 2021 move to Austin
Relations between Tesla and California soured during 2020, when Alameda County health orders shut the Fremont factory during the first wave of COVID-19. Musk publicly threatened to move the company out of the state. On December 1, 2021, Tesla announced that it had moved its corporate headquarters from Palo Alto to its Gigafactory Texas site in Austin.
Musk cited high taxes, high housing costs, long commutes and limits on growth in California. The move was largely a legal and symbolic change at first. Tesla kept its Palo Alto building and Fremont stayed one of its most important factories. In 2021 Tesla also agreed to lease about 325,000 square feet of the former HP headquarters site on Hanover Street, a sign that its Palo Alto presence was not going away.
Tesla in Palo Alto: timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 1, 2003 | Tesla Motors incorporated; first home in San Carlos. |
| August 17, 2009 | Lease of 3500 Deer Creek Road announced. |
| 2010 | Headquarters moves to Palo Alto. Tesla goes public. |
| 2021 | Lease of about 325,000 square feet on the Hanover Street campus agreed. |
| December 1, 2021 | Corporate headquarters moves to Austin, Texas. |
| February 22, 2023 | Global engineering headquarters at 3000 Hanover Street announced. |
The 2023 engineering headquarters
On February 22, 2023, Musk and Governor Gavin Newsom jointly announced that the Hanover Street campus would become Tesla's global engineering headquarters. The site at 3000 Hanover Street had been the headquarters of Hewlett Packard Enterprise after HP's 2015 split. Before that it was part of the original Hewlett-Packard's corporate campus.
Musk leaned into the history. "This is a poetic transition from the company that founded Silicon Valley to Tesla," he said, according to coverage in the Mountain View Voice. Newsom used the event to argue that innovation was still happening in California. "The future happens here first," he said.
Tesla described the campus as its global engineering and AI headquarters. It did not say how many jobs would be based there. The Hanover Street campus sits a couple of miles from Deer Creek Road, both inside the research park. Our page on Stanford Research Park covers the area's layout and other tenants.
What is there today
As of late 2026, Tesla's corporate headquarters remains in Austin and its engineering headquarters remains in Palo Alto. The Hanover Street campus is a working office with badge access. We could not confirm in recent sources exactly how Tesla now divides work between Hanover Street and its older Deer Creek Road building, so treat any claim about the current use of 3500 Deer Creek Road with caution.
Tesla's presence still shapes the local job market. Engineers in Palo Alto can work on vehicle software, AI and hardware without moving to Texas. If you are job hunting in the area, our guide to finding a tech job in Palo Alto covers the wider market.
Good to know
- Neither Tesla site offers tours, a visitor center or a public showroom.
- Deer Creek Road and Hanover Street are best seen from a car or bike. The research park is spread out and has few sidewalks on some streets.
- Do not drive into Tesla parking areas or stop in driveways for photos. Security staff will ask you to leave.
- Pearson-Arastradero Preserve is a short ride from Deer Creek Road if you want to combine the drive with a hike.
Tesla in the bigger Palo Alto story
Tesla fits a long Palo Alto pattern: a company arrives as a startup, grows fast in leased research park space, then moves its headquarters somewhere bigger or cheaper. What makes Tesla different is that it came back. Its return to the old HP campus gave Palo Alto a high profile engineering center even after the headline move to Texas.
It also tied together two eras. HP's buildings housed instrument makers, then computer makers, then an electric carmaker. For more examples of that pattern, see our Palo Alto companies guide, the Silicon Valley history and the famous tech addresses tour, which includes a research park leg. Visiting for meetings in the park? Compare hotels near Stanford Research Park and along El Camino Real.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tesla still headquartered in Palo Alto?
Not officially. Tesla moved its corporate headquarters to its Gigafactory Texas site in Austin and announced the change on December 1, 2021. It still runs its global engineering headquarters in Palo Alto at 3000 Hanover Street.
Where was Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters?
From 2010 until the 2021 move to Texas, Tesla's headquarters was at 3500 Deer Creek Road in Stanford Research Park. The building was a former Hewlett-Packard and Agilent manufacturing site on a 23 acre parcel.
What is at 3000 Hanover Street?
It is the former Hewlett Packard Enterprise headquarters campus in Stanford Research Park. In February 2023 Tesla named it the company's global engineering headquarters, with engineering and AI work based there.
Where was Tesla before Palo Alto?
Tesla was founded in 2003 and was based in San Carlos, on the Peninsula north of Palo Alto, until it moved to the Deer Creek Road site.
Can you visit Tesla's Palo Alto offices?
No. Both the Deer Creek Road and Hanover Street sites are private offices with security. Tesla showrooms and service centers are the places where the public can see the cars.