Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a region in the Southern San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, in the United States, which serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. It corresponds roughly to the geographical Santa Clara Valley, although its boundaries have increased in recent decades. San Jose is the 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.

History

The term Silicon Valley was coined by journalist Don Hoefler in 1971. Originally referring to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, it eventually came to refer to all high-tech businesses in the area, and is now generally used as a metonym for the American high-technology economic sector. The name also became a global synonym for leading high-tech research and enterprises, and thus inspired similar named locations, as well as research parks and technology centers with a comparable structure all around the world.

Economy

Silicon Valley has a social and business ethos that supports innovation and entrepreneurship. The region 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 and scientific development. It was in Silicon Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other technologies, were developed.

Culture

The culture of Silicon Valley is characterized by a cooperative spirit and openness to new ideas and technologies. This culture is reflected in the high number of patents generated, the high investment levels, and the creation of high technology products. The culture also encourages a flexible response to business and technological innovations, and encourages investment in new ventures.

Education and Research

Silicon Valley is home to a significant number of "Unicorn" ventures, referring to startup companies whose valuation has exceeded $1 billion dollars. The region is also home to many universities such as Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley, and is the leading hub for the development of AI and robotics technologies.

See Also

• List of technology centers
• List of regions by past GDP (PPP) per capita
• List of U.S. states by economic indicators