Dictionary

Silicon Valley en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Silicon Valley USA, the title of a series of articles appearing in 1971 in Electronic News by the journalist Don Hoefler, from silicon, an important element in semiconductor manufacturing + valley from Santa Clara Valley, the area where many of these industries are located.

Meanings

1. (countable, informal, uncountable) Originally, the region of the San Francisco Bay Area in which there were a high number of industries producing silicon chips; later extended to mean the entire concentration of high-tech businesses in this area.
   • CEO and cofounder Alex Karp distanced Palantir from other Silicon Valley technology companies in a letter included in the filing, writing that “we seem to share fewer and fewer of the technology sector’s values and commitments.” 2020 August 25, Sara Ashley O'Brien, Rachel Metz, “Palantir files paperwork to go public and reveals it has never turned a profit”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 24 Nov 2021:
   • Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete. 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2021:
   • The community of radio amateurs—trespassing fiddlers on the cutting edge of technological possibilities—prefigured the geek community that was to inhabit Silicon Valley 50 years later. 2012, Fiorenza Belussi, Udo Hermann Staber, Managing Networks of Creativity, page 92:
2. (countable, metonymically, uncountable) The tech industry, especially the American tech industry specifically.
3. (countable) A tech industry cluster in another country, developed as a competitor to the original Silicon Valley.
   • The belief in the early 1980s among many European pundits that a series of European Silicon Valleys could be developed before the end of the decade flew in the face of all the United States evidence. 1995 March 16, Ray P Oakey, High-Technology New Firms: Variable Barriers To Growth, SAGE Publications Limited:

Forms

Deriveds

Silicon Valley of Europe · Silicon Valley of the East Coast · Silicone Valley · Mexican Silicon Valley · Silicon Valley of Sweden · Silicon Valley North · Silicon Valley of India

Relateds

Silicon Alley · Silicon Hills · Silicon Beach · Silicon Prairie · Cwm Silicon · place names modelled on · Silicon Wadi · Silicon Fen · Silicon Roundabout · Silicon Mallee · Silicon Sentier · Silicon Glen · A comprehensive list of · Silicon Forest · Silicon Docks

Translations (34)

fa درهٔ سیلیکون (nickname for region in San Francisco) · cs Křemíkové údolí (nickname for region in San Francisco) · fr Vallée du Silicium (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ug كرېمنىي جىلغىسى (nickname for region in San Francisco) · hy Սիլիկոնային հովիտ (nickname for region in San Francisco) · it Silicon Valley (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ru Силико́новая доли́на (nickname for region in San Francisco) · pt Vale do Silício (nickname for region in San Francisco) · mn Цахиурын хөндий (nickname for region in San Francisco) · cmn 矽谷 (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ka სილიკონის ველი (nickname for region in San Francisco) · vi Thung lũng Silicon (nickname for region in San Francisco) · cmn 硅谷 (nickname for region in San Francisco) · hu Szilícium-völgy (nickname for region in San Francisco) · he עמק הסיליקון (nickname for region in San Francisco) · pl Dolina Krzemowa (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ug سىلىتسىي جىلغىسى (nickname for region in San Francisco) · de Silizium-Tal (nickname for region in San Francisco) · cs Silicon Valley (nickname for region in San Francisco) · tr Silikon Vadisi (nickname for region in San Francisco) · es Silicon Valley (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ko 실리콘 밸리 (nickname for region in San Francisco) · yue 矽谷 (nickname for region in San Francisco) · vi Thung lũng Điện tử (nickname for region in San Francisco) · es Valle del Silicio (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ja シリコンバレー (nickname for region in San Francisco) · de Silicon Valley (nickname for region in San Francisco) · fr Silicon Valley (nickname for region in San Francisco) · uk Кре́мнієва доли́на (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ru Кре́мниевая доли́на (nickname for region in San Francisco) · fi Piilaakso (nickname for region in San Francisco) · hi सिलिकॉन वैली (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ar وَادِي اَلسِّيلِكُون (nickname for region in San Francisco) · ka სილიციუმის ველი (nickname for region in San Francisco)

wikipedia: Don Hoefler · wikipedia: Electronic News · wikipedia: Santa Clara Valley