A realignment has taken shape in Silicon Valley, with Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk‘s support for President-elect Donald Trump encouraging other tech leaders to publicly embrace conservative positions, according to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

What Happened: “There was some degree to which it was safer for people to speak out when other people were speaking out,” Thiel said on a podcast on Thursday.

He emphasized that Musk was “incredibly important” in this shift, providing what he called “a great deal of cover” for other industry figures.

The movement has drawn prominent tech figures into Trump’s orbit, including venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and David Sacks. On the other end of the spectrum, tech investors and leaders, including Reid Hoffman, Ron Conway, and Mark Cuban, publicly pledged support for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Why It Matters: While Silicon Valley remains predominantly Democratic, Trump gained notable support across the region’s three main counties, according to voting data analysis by Business Insider.

The industry’s political transformation reflects growing internal tensions over corporate culture, with Musk’s political evolution serving as a prominent example. After relocating Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas in 2021, Musk described his rightward shift as opposing what he termed the “woke mind virus.”

This realignment led to Musk’s appointment as co-leader of Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), alongside entrepreneur-turned-politician Vivek Ramaswamy.

Thiel, who backed Trump in 2016 but withdrew from political donations this cycle, praised Musk’s stance as both “incredibly dangerous” and “incredibly courageous.”

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.