Californian tech company to move headquarters to Florida

California quantum computing company D-Wave is moving its headquarters to Boca Raton, Fla., and opening a new research and development facility.

In an announcement this week, the Palo Alto company said its new office will be housed in the Boca Raton Innovation Campus before the end of this year. The 1.7-million-square-foot office facility, previously used by tech company IBM, is the birthplace of the personal computer, according to the campus’ website.

“The state offers a rich scientific and educational environment, a growing pool of highly skilled tech talent, and a vibrant spirit of innovation that made it attractive to D-Wave,” Chief Executive Alan Baratz said in a statement.

The company is among businesses that have recently opened new offices or moved out of California, underscoring the competition the state faces to attract more jobs.

California, home to companies such as Google, Apple and Meta, is known for being a major hub for the technology industry. California cryptocurrency startup BitGo recently said that it was moving to South Dakota.

The announcement comes after business leaders criticize a proposed ballot measure to tax billionaires to mainly fund healthcare. Under the Billionaire Tax Act, Californians worth more than $1 billion would pay a one-time 5% tax on their total wealth. The initiative still needs enough signatures to make it on the November ballot, but it’s already prompting criticism from some of California’s wealthiest residents who have urged companies to move.

Read more: Explaining California’s billionaire tax: The proposals, the backlash and the exodus

D-Wave, founded in 1999, describes itself the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. It also provides quantum computing systems, software, and services. Quantum computers are able to solve complex problems more quickly than a classical computer.

A company spokesperson said its decision to move its headquarters to Florida wasn’t related to the proposed billionaires tax and its executives haven’t publicly commented on the idea. D-Wave will still have a Palo Alto office and it also has a presence in Marina del Rey.

Cities try to lure companies to relocate their operations by offering tax breaks.

In January, the Boca Raton City Council approved a resolution that would allow a tech company — referred as Project Vernon — to be a “qualified applicant” for economic development incentives.

The resolution said that once the company, which turned out to be D-Wave, revealed its identity the city would move forward with completing an economic development agreement.

D-Wave would receive up to $500,000 as part of a relocation incentive. The new headquarters would result in the creation of 100 new jobs over the next five years in Boca Raton. The average annual salary for the jobs shouldn’t be less than $125,000, according to the resolution.

The company also considered relocating its headquarters and R&D facility to Tennessee and North Carolina along with staying in California, the resolution said.

The new Florida site will provide D-Wave a “bicoastal presence for system redundancy in the case of disaster recovery,” according to the news release about the new headquarters.

The company said it will install a quantum computer at Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus as part of a $20-million agreement.

D-Wave has more than 200 employees, according to its website.

The quantum market is projected to grow. It could reach roughly $100 billion by 2035 with most of the revenue growth coming from quantum computing, according to a 2025 report from McKinsey & Company.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.