The U.S. operations for Yamaha Motor Co. have been based in California for almost 50 years.
But the Japanese manufacturer is now moving to Georgia.
Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp revealed on Tuesday that Yamaha would relocate to Kennesaw, Georgia, in the coming years.
That means they will be leaving Cypress, California, where it has been based since 1979, according to a report from CBS News.
“After many years of great partnership, we are honored and proud to welcome Yamaha’s American headquarters to the No. 1 state for business,” Kemp remarked in a statement.
“This is another loud and clear testament to what we offer job creators from around the world,” he added.
Kemp invited other businesses in the Golden State looking for a new home to consider Georgia.
“To any other California-based companies looking for a better home, we’ll give you plenty of reasons to keep Georgia on your mind,” he continued.
Yamaha said in a statement of its own that the transition is “aimed at improving the profitability of its U.S. operations.”
The move was spurred by “cost increases resulting from U.S. tariffs and changes in the market environment.”
Yamaha, which manufactures motorized products like ATVs, watercraft, and boat engines, already has 2,300 employees in Georgia.
It has a factory in the town of Newnan, which is 40 miles from Atlanta.
SFGate reported that Yamaha already has a presence in Kennesaw as well, having moved its marine business unit, and eventually its motorsports operations, to the city in 1999.
Yamaha will be leaving its Cypress headquarters entirely by 2028.
As noted by SFGate, many other companies have left California or reduced their operations in the state in recent years.
Among many other examples, those firms include Tesla, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Public Storage, as well as Amazon offices.
Yamaha will find a broadly friendlier business environment in Georgia, according to the Tax Foundation.
The Peach State has a 5.19 percent business tax, ranking 31st in the country, while California has an 8.84 percent tax, ranking 6th.
The Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index ranks California as 48th in the country.
California also has the highest top marginal individual income tax rate at 13.3 percent.
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