The Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Got Started

Abstract

Silicon Valley - an area that encompasses San Francisco and its extended suburbs to the south, including San Jose - is commonly known as the tech capital of the world. When most people think of the Valley, they probably think of semiconductors, personal computers, software, biotech and self-driving cars. But it was a hub for innovation long before the rise of personal computing, or even the transistor. Some consider the start of Hewlett-Packard Company as the beginning of what would become Silicon Valley; others date the start of the story to the founding of William Shockley's silicon transistor company, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, in Mountain View. But the seeds for what was to become Silicon Valley were actually sown 50 years earlier.