Silicon Valley

Extracted Attributes

• Location

  Southern San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States

• Etymology

  Named after silicon used in computer semiconductors

• Key Cities

  San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Cupertino

• Primary Industry

  High technology and innovation

• Current Challenge

  Water security due to intensifying droughts

• IT Workers (2021)

  Approximately 500,000 workers

• Historical Nickname

  Valley of Heart's Delight

• Core Geographic Area

  Santa Clara Valley, Santa Clara County, southeastern San Mateo County

• Key Technologies Birthplace

  Silicon-based integrated circuit, microprocessor, microcomputer

• Venture Capital Investment (US)

  One-third of all U.S. investment

• Fortune 1000 Headquarters (2021)

  Over 30 companies

• San Jose Metro Area GDP per Capita Rank

  3rd highest globally

• Homes Valued Over $1 Million (June 2021)

  Highest percentage in U.S.

Timeline

• William Hewlett and David Packard opened an electronics shop in a Palo Alto garage, marking an early origin point for the region's tech industry. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1939-XX-XX

• Frederick Terman, Dean of Stanford engineering school, fostered a tradition of Stanford faculty starting their own companies, contributing to the region's growth. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1940s-1950s

• The term 'Silicon Valley' was popularized by economic commentator Don Hoefler in a series of articles, though he took the term from businessman Ralph Vaerst. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1971-XX-XX

• The region was home to the headquarters of over 30 Fortune 1000 companies and thousands of startups, attracting one-third of all U.S. venture capital investment, and employing approximately half a million IT workers. (Source: Summary/Wikipedia/DBpedia)

  2021-XX-XX

• The San Jose Metropolitan Area had the highest percentage of homes valued at over $1 million in the U.S. (Source: Summary/Wikipedia/DBpedia)

  2021-06-XX

• The region has faced challenges related to water security due to intensifying droughts in California. (Source: Summary/DBpedia)

  Recent

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley. The term "Silicon Valley" refers to the area in which high-tech business has proliferated in Northern California, and it also serves as a general metonym for California's high-tech business sector. The cities of Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Menlo Park are frequently cited as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. Other major Silicon Valley cities are San Jose, Santa Clara, Redwood City and Cupertino. The San Jose Metropolitan Area has the third-highest GDP per capita in the world (after Zürich, Switzerland, and Oslo, Norway), according to the Brookings Institution. As of June 2021, it also had the highest percentage of homes valued at $1 million or more in the United States. Silicon Valley is home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations, including the headquarters of more than 30 businesses in the Fortune 1000, and thousands of startup companies. Silicon Valley also accounts for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States, which has helped it to become a leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation, although the tech ecosystem has recently become more geographically dispersed. It was in Silicon Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other technologies, were developed. As of 2021, the region employed about a half million information technology workers. As more high-tech companies were established across San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, and then north towards the Bay Area's two other major cities, San Francisco and Oakland, the term "Silicon Valley" came to have two definitions: a narrower geographic one, referring to Santa Clara County and southeastern San Mateo County, and a metonymical definition referring to high-tech businesses in the entire Bay Area. The term Silicon Valley is often used as a synecdoche for the American high-technology economic sector. The name also became a global synonym for leading high-tech research and enterprises, and thus inspired similarly named locations, as well as research parks and technology centers with comparable structures all around the world. Many headquarters of tech companies in Silicon Valley have become hotspots for tourism.

Web Search Results

• Silicon Valley - Wikipedia

  Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley.( The term "Silicon Valley" refers to the area in which high-tech business has proliferated in Northern California, and it also serves as a general metonym for California's high-tech business sector. [...] As more high-tech companies were established across San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, and then north towards the Bay Area's two other major cities, San Francisco and Oakland, the term "Silicon Valley" came to have two definitions: a narrower geographic one, referring to Santa Clara County and southeastern San Mateo County, and a metonymical definition referring to high-tech businesses in the entire Bay Area. The term Silicon Valley is often used as a synecdoche for the American [...] Silicon Valley is home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations, including the headquarters of more than 30 businesses in the Fortune 1000, and thousands of startup companies. Silicon Valley also accounts for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States, which has helped it to become a leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation, although the tech ecosystem has recently become more geographically dispersed.( It was in Silicon Valley that

• Silicon Valley: Definition, Where It Is, and What It's Famous for

  Silicon Valley is a global center of technological innovation located in the South San Francisco Bay Area of California. The area was named after the primary material found in computer microprocessors. Silicon Valley is home to dozens of major technology, software, and internet companies. Some of the major companies in the region include Apple, Alphabet's Google, Chevron, Meta, (formerly Facebook), and Visa. [...] The term Silicon Valley refers to a region in the south San Francisco Bay Area. The name was first adopted in the early 1970s because of the region's association with the silicon transistor, which is used in all modern microprocessors.1 The area is notable for the vast number of technology companies that are headquartered there. [...] Learn about our editorial policies Image 7: Silicon Valley: A global center of technological innovation located in the South San Francisco Bay Area of California.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/siliconvalley.asp-FINAL-1-3280793e663e4041be8d9c96ebcb82ea.png) Investopedia / Joules Garcia [MUSIC PLAYING] More Videos 0 seconds of 1 minute, 5 seconds Volume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts Enabled Disabled

• [PDF] Silicon Valley

  1939, when William Hewlett and David Packard, both Stanford University alumni, opened an electronics shop in a Palo Alto garage. Geographically, Silicon Valley lies in the area of the Santa Clara Valley south of San Francisco. Previously the area was famous for its orchards and agriculture. In fact it used to be nicknamed the Valley of Heart’s Delight. The region covers some 100 km², and its main city is San Jose, which now has a population of close to 1 million people. While people trace the [...] In this issue: The Power of the Chip Zoom in on America A silicon wafer (Photo © AP Images) Silicon Valley page 2 The Birth of Silicon Valley A state historical marker outside of the garage in Palo Alto, California that spawned Hewlett-Packard Co. (Photo © AP Images) If you look for Silicon Valley on a map, you might not find it. Silicon Valley is the nickname of the region near San Francisco that today is synonymous with innovation and high-tech companies. Silicon Valley traces its roots to [...] birth of Silicon Valley back to 1939, the term “Silicon Valley” was not used until 1971. Economic commentator Don Hoefler popularized the name in a se­ ries of articles entitled “Silicon Valley in the USA” that he wrote for the weekly Electronic News. Hoefler did not in­ vent the term himself; he took it from his friend, business­ man Ralph Vaerst. “Silicon” refers to the production of computer semiconductors, in which silicon chips are used.

• From the Field: A Short History of Silicon Valley – Media Innovation ...

  We have now reached the point where Silicon Valley is a rich ecosystem where everyone with an idea eventually shows up because it’s possible to sit in a coffee shop and form a team, raise some money, and get started. Numerous accelerators, such as Y Combinator make it easy to get a start, and the cost of starting a company has come down significantly due to Amazon Web Services (cloud-based infrastructure) and software development tools and frameworks. [...] Silicon Valley grew up in the area between San Jose, California, and San Francisco as a result of Frederick Terman, the legendary dean of Stanford engineering school during the 1940s and 1950s. He created the tradition of Stanford faculty starting their own companies. A number of companies we still reference came out of Stanford during those years, especially Hewlett Packard and Varian Associates. [...] If you are interested in the history of Silicon Valley, you might want to watch the HBO show Silicon Valley, which tells you everything you need to know about where Silicon Valley is in the present, and also the fourth season of AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, which can take you from the 1980s to the rise of the World Wide Web.

• Silicon Valley Map - a map of tech companies and start-ups in ...

  Keyboard shortcuts Map Data Map data ©2025 Google Map data ©2025 Google 5 km Click to toggle between metric and imperial units Terms Report a map error Silicon Valley Map Jump here ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a map of tech companies and start-ups in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. The heatmap intensity corresponds to valuation/market cap of the company. ### FAQ #### How did you collect the data? [...] Image 14 Image 15 Image 16 Image 17 Image 18 Image 19 Image 20 Image 21 Image 22 Image 23 Image 24 Image 25 Image 26 Image 27 Image 28 Image 29 Image 30 Image 31 Image 32 Image 33 Image 34 Image 35 Image 36 Image 37 Image 38 Image 39 Image 40 Image 41 Image 42 Image 43 Image 44 Image 45 Image 46 Image 47 Image 48 Image 49 Image 50 Image 51 Image 52 Image 53 Image 54 Image 55 Image 56 Image 57 Image 58 Image 59 Image 60 Image 61 Image 62 Image 63 [...] Image 64 Image 65 Image 66 Image 67 Image 68 Image 69 Image 70 Image 71 Image 72 Image 73 Image 74 Image 75 Image 76 Image 77 Image 78 Image 79 Image 80 Image 81 Image 82 Image 83 Image 84 Image 85 Image 86 Image 87 Image 88 Image 89 Image 90 Image 91 Image 92 Image 93 Image 94 Image 95 Image 96 Image 97 Image 98 Image 99 Image 100 Image 101 Image 102 Image 103 Image 104 Image 105 Image 106 Image 107 Image 108 Image 109 Image 110 Image 111

• Instance Of

  Q4167410

Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County and Santa Clara County. San Jose is Silicon Valley's largest city, the third-largest in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States; other major Silicon Valley cities include Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Cupertino. The San Jose Metropolitan Area has the third-highest GDP per capita in the world (after Zurich, Switzerland and Oslo, Norway), according to the Brookings Institution, and, as of June 2021, has the highest percentage of homes valued at $1 million or more in the United States. Silicon Valley is home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations, including the headquarters of more than 30 businesses in the Fortune 1000, and thousands of startup companies. Silicon Valley also accounts for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States, which has helped it to become a leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation. It was in Silicon Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other technologies, were developed. As of 2021, the region employed about a half million information technology workers. As more high-tech companies were established across San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, and then north towards the Bay Area's two other major cities, San Francisco and Oakland, the term "Silicon Valley" came to have two definitions: a narrower geographic one, referring to Santa Clara County and southeastern San Mateo County, and a metonymical definition referring to high-tech businesses in the entire Bay Area. The term Silicon Valley is often used as a synecdoche for the American high-technology economic sector. The name also became a global synonym for leading high-tech research and enterprises, and thus inspired similarly named locations, as well as research parks and technology centers with comparable structures all around the world. Many headquarters of tech companies in Silicon Valley have become hotspots for tourism. More recently, intensifying droughts in California have further strained the Silicon Valley region’s water security.