1X Seeks Silicon Valley Talent and Capital

Moving the center of gravity to Palo Alto signals that 1X now sees its main bottleneck as talent and capital, not basic robotics R&D. The new 80,000 square foot headquarters is meant to pull the company closer to AI researchers, robotics engineers, partners, and investors, while manufacturing stays in Norway, where 1X had already built actuator production, robot assembly, and testing around its Moss campus. That split mirrors how the category is forming, with product and model teams clustering in Silicon Valley and hardware production staying where operations are already established.1 2 3 4

• 1X framed the move as a way to combine its Sunnyvale and Moss teams, seat 400 people, and speed production ramp for NEO. In practice, that means the headquarters is not just an office change, it is a hiring and execution move aimed at getting more robot, AI, and manufacturing decisions made in one place.1
• The company did not abandon Norway. Before the move, 1X had emphasized its Moss facility as the core of a vertically integrated setup covering actuator manufacturing, robot assembly, and testing. Keeping production there preserves an existing hardware base while Palo Alto becomes the front end for recruiting, fundraising, and ecosystem access.2
• This also puts 1X physically closer to the companies shaping the humanoid race. Figure, Apptronik, and other U.S. players are competing on data, deployments, and access to scarce robotics and foundation model talent. In that market, location matters because the same few labs, investors, and senior hires keep showing up across the leading companies.3 4

The next phase is likely a tighter Silicon Valley loop between hiring, fundraising, and product iteration, with Norway remaining the build center. If 1X can turn that split model into faster NEO deployment and a larger training data flywheel, the relocation will look less like a geographic update and more like the moment it started operating as a top tier global humanoid contender.1 2 3 4