What is Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley is the term used to refer to high tech businesses.

, English: Silicon Valley , is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California in the US. Initially this name was used to refer to a large number of inventors and manufacturers of silicon chips (silicon microchip processors), but then it became a metaphor for all commercial districts. High tech trade in the region.

Silicon Valley includes the northern part of the Santa Clara Valley and several nearby communities of southern San Francisco Peninsula and the East Bay. Its territory extends from Menlo Park (located on the peninsula) and Fremont / Newark in the East Bay down through San Jose, and its central point is approximately Sunnyvale in California. Line 17 is the passage through the Santa Cruz to Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz, in Santa Cruz County, which is believed by many to be part of Silicon Valley.

Picture 1 of What is Silicon Valley?
The business district of San Jose, named itself "the capital of Silicon Valley".

The origin of the name

"Silicon Valley" is the name given by journalist Don Hoefler in 1971. He took it as a title for his series of articles, dubbed "Silicon Valley USA" , published in the Electronic News weekly trade. It was released on January 11, 1971.

Silicon refers to the high concentration of industries related to semiconductor technology and computer technology in the region. The word Valley refers to the Santa Clara valley, located at the southernmost tip of San Francisco Bay.

This name can also be used to refer to neighborhoods on either side of the San Francisco Bay. There, many industries are developed quickly. Geographically, the folds of the earth's surface that make up Silicon Valley, also create San Francisco Bay - the only difference between them is the altitude.

For many years between the 1970s and the 1980s, journalists often referred to it as Silicone Valley. This is the name people use before it becomes a common name in American culture. Due to being unfamiliar with silicon, the authors write newspapers often misunderstood it as a wrong spelling of silicone letters, a stuffing material (caulking), to pump breast implants and also a material used in many other products introduced to the public recently.