Silicon Valley

noun

1. the area in northern California, southwest of San Francisco in the Santa Clara valley region, where many of the high-technology design and manufacturing companies in the semiconductor industry are concentrated.

Silicon Valley

noun

1. an industrial strip in W California, extending S of San Francisco, in which the US information technology industry is concentrated
2. any area in which industries associated with information technology are concentrated

Silicon Valley

1. A region on the San Francisco Peninsula in California where the miniaturized electronics industry is centered, so called because most of the devices built there are made of semiconductors such as silicon .

Notes

The term is often used as a catchword to describe the development of high-tech industry (see also high-tech ): “If we can attract this corporation to our town, we could become another Silicon Valley.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of Silicon Valley¹

So called from the silicon wafers employed in semiconductor devices

Example Sentences

John Markoff argues that the rise of tech hubs like Silicon Valley owes much more to serendipity than their boosters like to admit.

From MIT Technology Review

A well-funded Silicon Valley startup now says it has a battery that will make electric vehicles far more palatable for the mass consumer.

From MIT Technology Review

Others were all too conscious of Silicon Valley’s checkered reputation when it came to privacy.

From MIT Technology Review

Silicon Valley, in many ways, owes its very existence to the mystique that first emerged in the 1970s, creating a magnetic force that has continuously pulled the best and the brightest from all over the world.

From MIT Technology Review

Since around the mid-2000s—shortly after our first TR10 list—growth in TFP has been sluggish and disappointing, especially given the flood of new technologies coming from places like Silicon Valley.

From MIT Technology Review

A brilliant Silicon Valley entrepreneur may have found a way to get dark money out of politics without changing any laws.

From The Daily Beast

Greer is a young, entrepreneurial, poker-loving Texan who ended up in Silicon Valley.

From The Daily Beast

In Silicon Valley proper, that number increases to $108,603, marking a 7.2 percent year-over-year increase.

From The Daily Beast

Normally Democratic Silicon Valley opened up its wallets to the Republicans this time out.

From The Daily Beast

South of Silicon Valley, an entire town is being deformed, slowly, by plate tectonics.

From The Daily Beast

He was still wearing the blue blazer and khakis he wore on the days that he was consulting in Silicon Valley.

From Project Gutenberg

The "Silicon Valley" revolution is likely to continue increasing computer capacity on an almost annual basis.

From Project Gutenberg