Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ditching Silicon Valley

SAN JOSE, CA — One of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies is ditching Silicon Valley.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced Tuesday it plans to relocate its headquarters to Texas.

The information technology giant’s move from the back yard of Stanford and UC Berkeley to the land of Waffle House and “Friday Night Lights” is attributed to the seismic shift towards remote work that’s been accelerated amid the coronavirus crisis.

HPE made the announcement in a fourth quarter earnings report. It said construction of a new state-of-the-art Houston campus is underway.

The company said it will retain a Silicon Valley footprint, consolidating sites to its San Jose campus. HPE said no job losses are associated with the move.

“HPE has made the decision to relocate its headquarters from San Jose, California, to Houston, Texas,” the company’s statement said.

“HPE’s largest U.S. employment hub, Houston is an attractive market to recruit and retain future diverse talent, and is where the company is currently constructing a state-of-the-art new campus. The Bay Area will continue to be a strategic hub for HPE innovation, and the company will consolidate a number of sites in the Bay Area to its San Jose campus.”

HPE’s Silicon Valley roots go back to 1939, when David Packard and William R. Hewlett launched the company out of a Palo Alto garage with $538 according to the Silicon Valley Historical Association.

HPE joins a growing list of companies leaving Silicon Valley amid the pandemic, CNBC reports, noting the region’s pricey living costs and high state taxes at a time when more employees are working remotely has made relocating to other areas more attractive.

Dropbox, Palantir Technologies and 8VC are among the companies cited in the report who have left Silicon Valley in recent months.

Upwards of 8,800 South Bay job cuts are expected by the end of the year in tech, manufacturing, food service and education, San Jose Spotlight reports.

The report cites more than 100 companies of WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filings by Santa Clara County businesses.