Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is the southern region of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, United States. The region occupies roughly the same area as the Santa Clara Valley where it is centered. It is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations as well as thousands of small start ups. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but 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 sector.

Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the United States and the world, Silicon Valley continues to be a leading hub for high-tech innovation and development, accounting for one-third (1/3) of all of the venture capital investment in the United States. Geographically, Silicon Valley encompasses all of the Santa Clara Valley, the southern Peninsula, and the southern East Bay. With the rapid growth of the technology sector, the term "Silicon Valley" is frequently used to include other parts of the Bay Area, such as San Mateo County, San Francisco, and parts of Marin County.