Silicon Valley, located south of San Francisco Bay, has been a hub of technology, electronics, and science since the early 1900s. The region includes cities such as San Jose, Cupertino, and Palo Alto, and was home to the first major technology company, Hewlett-Packard. The area’s high concentration of universities and colleges attracted numerous students and innovators, and the region became associated with the computer and technology industry. Although the dot-com bubble hurt the region’s fortunes, it continues to be recognized as a hub of creativity.
Silicon Valley is located in the northern part of the Santa Clara Valley, directly south of the San Francisco Bay. Since the early 1900s, this region has been home to innovators in technology, electronics, and the sciences, although the name wasn’t coined until the 1970s. Many people associate the area with the technology industry, although the silicon chips of the same name are no longer produced in large quantities in the region.
There are various ways to define the location of Silicon Valley. Some people consider it the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes cities on the east and west sides of the bay, along with some cities directly below it. The city of San Jose is widely considered the capital of the region and also includes the cities of Cupertino, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Livermore, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, among others.
The origins of technological innovation in the area date back to the 1800s, when patrons such as Leland Stanford sponsored scientific experimentation and innovation. The San Francisco Bay area also hosted a number of experimental sites for the United States military in both World Wars, and the area’s high concentration of universities and colleges attracted numerous students and innovators. By the 1960s, the region was well established as an extremely geeky and scientific section of California.
One of the region’s first major technology companies was Hewlett-Packard, founded in the 1920s in a Silicon Valley garage. When the silicon transistor was developed in the 1950s, many semiconductor companies moved to the region to start manufacturing, and the area became forever associated with the computer and technology industry. Unfortunately, a legacy of this industry is high levels of pollution throughout the region, caused by the improper handling of toxic materials by many major manufacturers.
In addition to silicon chip makers, this area has also begun to attract other members of the high-tech industry, such as software developers. In 1971, the term “Silicon Valley” was being used in a trade magazine, a fitting replacement for the previous nickname for the area, the “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” a reference to the orchards that once spanned much of the region. Although the area’s fortunes have been hurt by the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the region continues to be recognized as a hub of creativity, with new businesses continuing to emerge.
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