Yamaha moves its US headquarters out of California after nearly 50 years

Yamaha picks Georgia over Southern California

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA announced on Feb. 26 that it will move its U.S. headquarters from Cypress, Calif., to Kennesaw, Ga. The move ends a nearly 50-year run in Orange County.

About 200 to 250 employees at the Cypress campus will be affected as the company shifts operations in phases starting late 2026 through the end of 2028.

Yamaha plans to sell all fixed assets on its 25.1-acre campus, including land, offices, and warehouses.

Tariffs and costs pushed the decision

Yamaha called the move part of “structural reforms” to improve profitability in the U.S. The company pointed to rising costs from U.S. tariffs and shifting market conditions.

Its parent company, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., reported a roughly 30% drop in global operating profit for fiscal year 2025, with tariffs as one factor.

Yamaha said it wants to build a profit structure that doesn’t depend only on growing revenue. The pressure has been building for a while.

Operations already shifted to Georgia over decades

The Cypress campus opened in 1979 after Yamaha bought the land a year earlier. But the company started moving pieces to Georgia long ago.

The marine business relocated to Kennesaw in 1999, and motorsports followed in 2019. By the time of the announcement, only corporate administration and financial services remained in California.

U.S. CEO Mike Chrzanowski, who spent about 20 years at the Georgia operations, chose to stay in Kennesaw rather than move west.

Georgia already anchors Yamaha’s U.S. workforce

Yamaha already employs about 2,600 workers in Georgia.

Its manufacturing plant in Newnan has been building vehicles since 1988 on a 280-acre campus with more than 1.3 million square feet across six buildings.

The facility has assembled more than 4 million vehicles, including ATVs, side-by-sides, WaveRunners, and golf cars. Yamaha also opened a 75,000-square-foot Marine Innovation Center in Kennesaw in 2023.

The headquarters move makes Georgia the center of all U.S. operations.

Cypress campus hits the market

Commercial brokerage firm Avison Young will market the property, which includes industrial, flex-warehouse, and office buildings totaling about 279,000 square feet. The campus takes up an entire city block on Katella Avenue.

Avison Young described it as one of the biggest industrial redevelopment opportunities in Southern California. The sale price, buyer, and timing have not been set.

Yamaha does not do any manufacturing at the Cypress location.

Cypress loses another major employer

The city of Cypress said Yamaha was one of the first companies to set up in the Cypress Business Park back in 1980.

A city official said the company has been an important part of the business community for more than 40 years. At its peak, the facility had about 450 employees.

Yamaha isn’t the first big name to leave, either. Mitsubishi Motors North America left its Cypress headquarters in 2019 for Franklin, Tenn., also citing costs. Amazon later bought Mitsubishi’s former 31-acre property.

More companies keep leaving California

Yamaha joins a growing list of companies moving headquarters out of the state. Tesla moved to Austin, Texas, in 2021.

Chevron went to Houston in 2024. In-N-Out Burger headed to Tennessee.

A report from the Public Policy Institute of California found that 789 companies moved their headquarters out of the state between 2011 and 2021, with departures picking up after 2017.

Companies have pointed to high taxes, regulations, labor costs, and real estate expenses. Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, and Georgia have been top landing spots.

Yamaha says customers won’t notice a change

Yamaha said it has no plans to cut its product lineup or U.S. dealer network. A small group of employees will stay in California for testing and racing.

The Buena Park-based Yamaha Corp. of America, which makes musical instruments and audio gear, is a separate company and is not affected.

Beyond Georgia, Yamaha runs 13 other locations across the U.S., including in Wisconsin, Alabama, and Florida.

Yamaha built its U.S. brand from California

Yamaha entered the U.S. market in 1960, setting up Yamaha International Corp. in Los Angeles.

Under then-president Genichi Kawakami, the company shifted to direct wholesale distribution and built a nationwide dealer network. The Cypress campus became the symbol of that growth.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. was originally founded in Japan in 1955 as a spinoff from Yamaha Corporation, the musical instrument maker started in 1887.

Today Yamaha Motor is the world’s second-largest motorcycle manufacturer.

Georgia keeps drawing companies south

Georgia has pulled in companies with lower operating costs, business-friendly policies, and available land.

Cobb County, where Kennesaw sits, has actively courted international investment, including hosting events to celebrate Yamaha’s presence.

Yamaha’s Newnan plant has received more than $354 million in investment over 15 years, according to a 2018 company announcement.

The state has also landed other major corporate relocations and manufacturing operations in recent years.

Yamaha expects stronger numbers ahead

Despite the move, Yamaha projects higher revenue and profits in fiscal year 2026 compared to 2025.

The company said it is working on cost reductions across its businesses and framed the restructuring as a way to become more resilient.

The consolidation puts all major U.S. divisions under one geographic roof for the first time in decades.

The transition will be closely watched as a sign of how tariff pressures are reshaping where companies base their U.S. operations.

Southern California says goodbye to a longtime neighbor

Yamaha helped shape powersports culture in California, and California helped shape Yamaha’s American identity. The departure ends one of the longest-running Japanese corporate headquarters presences in Orange County.

For Cypress and the surrounding area, attention now turns to redeveloping the campus and bringing in new employers.

The phased move runs through the end of 2028, and Yamaha’s sale-and-leaseback arrangement keeps operations going in Cypress until then.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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