Editing Silicon Valley (section)

==History==
Silicon Valley was born through the intersection of several contributing factors, including a skilled science research base housed in area universities, plentiful [[venture capital]], permissive government regulation, and steady [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] spending. [[Stanford University]]’s leadership was especially important in the valley's early development.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Adams |first=Stephen B. |date=October 2005 |title=Stanford and Silicon Valley: Lessons on Becoming a High-Tech Region |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2307/41166326 |journal=California Management Review |language=en |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=29–51 |doi=10.2307/41166326 |jstor=41166326 |s2cid=154947640 |issn=0008-1256}}</ref> Together these elements formed the basis of its growth and success.<ref name=Castells2011p52>{{cite book |last=Castells |first=Manuel |author-link=Manuel Castells |year=2011 |title=The Rise of the Network Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FihjywtjTdUC&pg=PT52 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |page=52 |isbn=978-1-4443-5631-1 |access-date=March 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905222854/https://books.google.com/books?id=FihjywtjTdUC&pg=PT52 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United States]] was more friendly than other countries to business investment, charging much lower taxes on [[capital gains]] since the [[Revenue Act of 1921]], and featuring particularly loose [[free market]] controls over new business. In 1953, the [[Small Business Administration]] was created to foster [[Startup company|startups]], giving a boost to entrepreneurs. [[Northern California]] was even more welcoming, with a group of venture capitalists actively seeking high-tech business ideas, clustered on [[Sand Hill Road]] in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]] and [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]]. [[California]]'s civil code undermined the usual [[non-compete clause]]s that effectively tied employees to their companies in other states, allowing California workers to freely apply the knowledge they gained from their previous employer. This gave Silicon Valley an advantage over other American tech hubs such as [[Massachusetts Route 128]] curving around [[Boston]].<ref>O'Mara (2019). pp. 81–82, 111, 159–160, 279.</ref>

===Early military origins===
[[File:Moffett Field circa 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Established in 1931, [[Moffett Federal Airfield|Moffett Field]] in [[Sunnyvale, California|Sunnyvale]]/[[Mountain View, California|Mountain View]] has played a strategic role in Silicon Valley's evolution, researching and developing key technologies, first for the [[U.S. military]] and then for [[NASA]]. Today it hosts the [[NASA Ames Research Center|Ames Research Center]].]]
The San Francisco Bay Area had long been a major site of [[United States Navy]] research and technology. In 1909, [[Charles Herrold]] started the first [[radio station]] in the United States with regularly scheduled programming in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]]. Later that year, Stanford University graduate [[Cyril Frank Elwell|Cyril Elwell]] purchased the U.S. patents for [[Arc converter|Poulsen arc]] radio transmission technology and founded the Federal Telegraph Corporation (FTC) in [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]]. Over the next decade, the FTC created the world's first global radio communication system, and signed a contract with the Navy in 1912.<ref name=Sturgeon>{{cite book |last=Sturgeon |first=Timothy J. |year=2000 |chapter=How Silicon Valley Came to Be |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC&pg=PA15 |editor-last=Kenney |editor-first=Martin |title=Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC |publisher=Stanford University |isbn=978-0-8047-3734-0 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905220513/https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1933, [[Moffett Federal Airfield|Air Base Sunnyvale]], California, was commissioned by the [[United States Government]] for use as a Naval Air Station (NAS) to house the airship ''[[USS Macon (ZRS-5)|USS Macon]]'' in [[Hangar One (Mountain View, California)|Hangar One]]. The station was renamed NAS [[Moffett Field]], and between 1933 and 1947, U.S. Navy blimps were based there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moffettfieldmuseum.org/history.html |title=Moffett Field History |first=Dave |last=Black |work=moffettfieldmuseum.org |access-date=April 19, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406011808/http://moffettfieldmuseum.org/history.html |archive-date=April 6, 2005}}</ref> A number of technology firms had set up shop in the area around Moffett Field to serve the Navy. When the Navy gave up its airship ambitions and moved most of its west coast operations to [[San Diego]], the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]] (NACA, forerunner of [[NASA]]) took over portions of Moffett Field for [[aeronautics]] research. Many of the original companies stayed, while new ones moved in. The immediate area was soon filled with [[aerospace]] firms, such as [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]], which was the area's largest employer from the 1950s into 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/why-silicon-valley-and-big-tech-dont-innovate-anymore/604969/ |title=Silicon Valley Abandons the Culture That Made It the Envy of the World |last=Madrigal |first=Alexis C. |date=January 15, 2020 |website=The Atlantic |url-status=live |access-date=January 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115160317/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/why-silicon-valley-and-big-tech-dont-innovate-anymore/604969/ |archive-date=January 15, 2020}}</ref>

===Role of Stanford University===
{{see also|Stanford University|Stanford Research Park}}
[[File:Stanford University Main Quad May 2011 001 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Stanford University]] played the central role in the emergence of Silicon Valley, both through its academic programs and through its real investments into the local tech ecosystem, such as with the [[Stanford Research Park]].<ref name="Markoff" />]]
[[Stanford University]], its affiliates, and graduates have played a major role in the development of the culture of collaboration among high-tech companies.<ref name="Markoff">{{cite news |url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/travel/escapes/17Amer.html?pagewanted=1 |title=Searching for Silicon Valley |last=Markoff |first=John |date=April 17, 2009 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 17, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429065011/http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/travel/escapes/17Amer.html?pagewanted=1 |archive-date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> A powerful sense of regional solidarity shaped the outlook of inventors and engineers in California; contrasting markedly from the insular and competitive environment of engineering firms on the [[East Coast of the United States]].<ref name=Sturgeon/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Scholar examines links between Stanford, Silicon Valley |url=https://news.stanford.edu/news/2003/april16/historysusv-416.html |access-date=December 11, 2022 |website=news.stanford.edu}}</ref> From the 1890s, Stanford University's [[leader]]s saw its mission as service to the (American) [[Western United States|West]] and shaped the school accordingly. At the same time, the perceived exploitation of the West at the hands of eastern interests fueled [[Boosterism|booster-like]] attempts to build self-sufficient local industry. Thus regionalism helped align Stanford's interests with those of the area's high-tech firms.<ref>Stephen B. Adams, "Regionalism in Stanford's Contribution to the Rise of Silicon Valley", ''Enterprise & Society'' 2003 4(3): 521–543</ref>

[[Frederick Terman]], as Stanford University's dean of the school of engineering from 1946,<ref>
[https://www.smecc.org/frederick_terman.htm Frederick Terman] - "When Terman returned to Stanford University in 1946 as dean of engineering, he applied his wartime reputation and experience to augmenting the university's income by encouraging research for the U.S. government [...].</ref> encouraged faculty and graduates to start their own companies. In 1951 Terman spearheaded the formation of Stanford Industrial Park (now [[Stanford Research Park]], an area surrounding [[Page Mill Road]], south west of [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] and extending beyond [[California county routes in zone G#G5|Foothill Expressway]] to Arastradero Road), where the university leased portions of its land to high-tech firms.<ref>[http://otl.stanford.edu/about/documents/JSstanfordpark.pdf Sandelin, John, ''The Story of the Stanford Industrial/Research Park'', 2004] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609191745/http://otl.stanford.edu/about/documents/JSstanfordpark.pdf |date=June 9, 2007}}</ref> Terman nurtured companies like [[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Varian Associates]], [[Eastman Kodak]], [[General Electric]], [[Lockheed Corporation]], and other high-tech firms, until what would become Silicon Valley grew up around the Stanford University campus.
[[File:Hewlett-Packard_garage_and_house_exterior_in_Palo_Alto,_Silicon_Valley,_California_(_HP_garage_).jpg|thumb|left|The [[HP Garage]], dubbed the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley", where [[Bill Hewlett]] and [[David Packard]] (founders of [[Hewlett-Packard]]) began developing their [[Electronic oscillator|audio oscillator]] in 1938]]
In 1951, to address the financial demands of Stanford's growth requirements, and to provide local employment-opportunities for graduating students, [[Frederick Terman]] proposed leasing Stanford's lands for use as an [[office park]] named the [[Stanford Industrial Park]] (later [[Stanford Research Park]]). Terman invited only high-technology companies. The first tenant was [[Varian Associates]], founded by Stanford alumni in the 1930s to build military-radar components. Terman also found [[venture capital]] for civilian-technology start-ups. [[Hewlett-Packard]] became one of the major success-stories. Founded in 1939 in [[Packard's garage]] by Stanford graduates [[Bill Hewlett]] and [[David Packard]], Hewlett-Packard moved its offices into the Stanford Research Park shortly after 1953. In 1954 Stanford originated the Honors Cooperative Program to allow full-time employees of the companies to pursue graduate degrees from the university on a part-time basis. The initial companies signed five-year agreements in which they would pay double the tuition for each student in order to cover the costs. Hewlett-Packard has become the largest personal-computer manufacturer in the world, and transformed the home-printing market when it released the first thermal drop-on-demand [[ink-jet printer]] in 1984.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1984.htm |title=History of Computing Industrial Era 1984–1985 |work=thocp.net |access-date=April 19, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428155324/http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1984.htm |archive-date=April 28, 2015}}</ref> Other early tenants included [[Eastman Kodak]], [[General Electric]], and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]].<ref>
{{cite web |title=The Stanford Research Park: The Engine of Silicon Valley |url=http://www.paloaltohistory.com/stanford-research-park.php |work=PaloAltoHistory.com |access-date=March 29, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329094048/http://www.paloaltohistory.com/stanford-research-park.php |archive-date=March 29, 2014}}
</ref>

===Rise of Silicon===
{{Main|Silicon|History of the transistor}}
{{see also|Invention of the integrated circuit}}
[[File:ShockleyBldg (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Plaque commemorating [[Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory]] as the first high-tech company in what would become Silicon Valley]]
In 1956, [[William Shockley]], the co-inventor of the first working [[transistor]] (with [[John Bardeen]] and [[Walter Houser Brattain]]), moved from [[New Jersey]] to [[Mountain View, California]], to start [[Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory]] to live closer to his ailing mother [[May Bradford Shockley|May]] in [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]]. Shockley's work served as the basis for many electronic developments for decades.<ref>{{cite news |last=Leonhardt |first=David |date=April 6, 2008 |title=Holding On |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/realestate/keymagazine/406Lede-t.html?pagewanted=all |quote=In 1955, the physicist William Shockley set up a semiconductor laboratory in Mountain View, partly to be near his mother in Palo Alto. … |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525020611/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/realestate/keymagazine/406Lede-t.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=May 25, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Markoff |first=John |date=January 13, 2008 |title=Two Views of Innovation, Colliding in Washington |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EEDC153BF930A25752C0A96E9C8B63& |quote=The co-inventor of the transistor and the founder of the valley's first chip company, William Shockley, moved to Palo Alto, Calif., because his mother lived there. ... |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=December 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101125434/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07EEDC153BF930A25752C0A96E9C8B63& |archive-date=January 1, 2016}}</ref> Both Frederick Terman and [[William Shockley]] are often called "the father of Silicon Valley".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://forum.stanford.edu/carolyn/terman |title=Fred Terman, the Father of Silicon Valley |last=Tajnai |first=Carolyn |date=May 1985 |website=Stanford Computer Forum |publisher=Carolyn Terman |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211020643/http://forum.stanford.edu/carolyn/terman |archive-date=December 11, 2014 |access-date=December 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/story/silicon-valleys-first-founder-was-its-worst/ |title=Silicon Valley's First Founder Was Its Worst {{!}} Backchannel |magazine=Wired |access-date=January 8, 2020|language=en|issn=1059-1028 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901020558/https://www.wired.com/story/silicon-valleys-first-founder-was-its-worst/ |archive-date=September 1, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Unlike many other researchers who used germanium as the semiconductor material, Shockley believed that [[silicon]] was the better material for making transistors. Shockley intended to replace the current transistor with a new three-element design (today known as the [[Shockley diode]]), but the design was considerably more difficult to build than the "simple" transistor. In 1957, Shockley decided to end research on the silicon transistor. As a result of Shockley's abusive management style, eight engineers left the company to form [[Fairchild Semiconductor]]; Shockley referred to them as the "[[traitorous eight]]". Two of the original employees of Fairchild Semiconductor, [[Robert Noyce]] and [[Gordon Moore]], would go on to found [[Intel]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Goodheart |first=Adam |date=July 2, 2006 |title=10 Days That Changed History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/weekinreview/02goodheart.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902050843/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/weekinreview/02goodheart.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=September 2, 2017}}</ref><ref name=SV110>{{cite book |last1=McLaughlin |first1=John |last2=Weimers |first2=Leigh |last3=Winslow |first3=Ward |year=2008 |title=Silicon Valley: 110 Year Renaissance |url=http://www.siliconvalleyhistorical.org/silicon-valley-110-year-renaissance-book/ |publisher=[[Silicon Valley Historical Association]] |isbn=978-0-9649217-4-0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152340/http://www.siliconvalleyhistorical.org/silicon-valley-110-year-renaissance-book/ |archive-date=April 2, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:1st_IBM_Plant_in_Silicon_Valley_(16th_&_St._John_in_San_Jose).jpg|thumb|left|The first [[IBM]] plant in California, established in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] in 1943]]

Following the 1959 inventions of the monolithic [[integrated circuit]] (IC) chip by [[Robert Noyce]] at Fairchild, the first commercial MOS IC was introduced by [[General Microelectronics]] in 1964.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1964-Commecial.html |title=1964 – First Commercial MOS IC Introduced |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=July 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222203215/http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1964-Commecial.html |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The first single-chip microprocessor was the [[Intel 4004]],<ref>{{Citation |title=Intel's First Microprocessor—the Intel 4004 |publisher=Intel Corp. |date=November 1971 |url=http://www.intel.com/museum/archives/4004.htm |access-date=May 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513221700/http://www.intel.com/museum/archives/4004.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2008}}</ref> designed and realized by [[Federico Faggin]] along with [[Marcian Hoff|Ted Hoff]], [[Masatoshi Shima]] and [[Stanley Mazor]] at Intel in 1971.<ref name="computerhistory1971">{{cite web |title=1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030200123/https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |archive-date=October 30, 2019 |access-date=July 22, 2019 |website=[[Computer History Museum]]}}</ref><ref name="ieee">[[Federico Faggin]], [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4776530 The Making of the First Microprocessor], ''IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine'', Winter 2009, [[IEEE Xplore]]</ref> In April 1974, [[Intel]] released the [[Intel 8080]], the second [[8-bit computing|8-bit]] microprocessor designed and manufactured by [[Intel]].<ref name="Electronic News Apr 1974">{{cite news |last=Intel |title=From CPU to software, the 8080 Microcomputer is here |newspaper=Electronic News |location=New York |pages=44–45 |publisher=Fairchild Publications |date=April 15, 1974}}'' Electronic News'' was a weekly trade newspaper. The same advertisement appeared in the [[:File:Intel 8080 Advertisement May 1974.jpg|May 2, 1974, issue of ''Electronics'' magazine]].</ref>

===Origins of the Internet===
{{Main|ARPANET|History of the Internet}}
[[File:Arpanet_logical_map,_march_1977.png|thumb|left|[[ARPANET]], the predecessor to the [[Internet]], began to be developed in 1966 by the [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] and four research universities in California, including Stanford.]]
On April 23, 1963, [[J. C. R. Licklider]], the first director of the [[Information Processing Techniques Office]] (IPTO) at [[The Pentagon]]'s [[DARPA|ARPA]] issued an office memorandum addressed to [[Intergalactic Computer Network|Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network]]. It rescheduled a meeting in [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]] regarding his vision of a computer network, which he imagined as an electronic commons open to all, the main and essential medium of informational interaction for governments, institutions, corporations, and individuals.<ref>{{cite web |author=Licklider, J. C. R. |title=Topics for Discussion at the Forthcoming Meeting, Memorandum For: Members and Affiliates of the Intergalactic Computer Network |date=April 23, 1963 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Advanced Research Projects Agency, via KurzweilAI.net |url=http://www.kurzweilai.net/memorandum-for-members-and-affiliates-of-the-intergalactic-computer-network |access-date=January 26, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123122118/http://www.kurzweilai.net/memorandum-for-members-and-affiliates-of-the-intergalactic-computer-network |archive-date=January 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Leiner, Barry M. |title="Origins of the Internet" in A Brief History of the Internet version 3.32 |publisher=The Internet Society |date=December 10, 2003 |url=http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Origins |access-date=November 3, 2007 |display-authors=etal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604153304/http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Origins |archive-date=June 4, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Garreau2006">{{cite book |last=Garreau |first=Joel |title=Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies—and what it Means to be Human |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCuOKOD5nY4C&pg=PA22 |year=2006 |publisher=Broadway |isbn=978-0-7679-1503-8 |page=22 |access-date=September 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101125434/https://books.google.com/books?id=YCuOKOD5nY4C&pg=PA22 |archive-date=January 1, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=britannica>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (United States Government) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/745612/Defense-Advanced-Research-Projects-Agency-DARPA#ref829305 |access-date=January 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111211444/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/745612/Defense-Advanced-Research-Projects-Agency-DARPA#ref829305 |archive-date=January 11, 2014 }}</ref> As head of IPTO from 1962 to 1964, "Licklider initiated three of the most important developments in information technology: the creation of computer science departments at several major universities, time-sharing, and networking."<ref name=britannica /> In 1969, the [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]] (now SRI International), operated one of the four original nodes that comprised [[ARPANET]], predecessor to the [[Internet]].<ref>Christophe Lécuyer, "What Do Universities Really Owe Industry? The Case of Solid State Electronics at Stanford," ''Minerva: a Review of Science, Learning & Policy'' 2005 43(1): 51–71</ref>

===Emergence of venture capital===
{{further|Venture capital|Sand Hill Road}}
By the early 1970s, there were many [[semiconductor]] companies in the area, [[computer]] firms using their devices, and programming and service companies serving both. Industrial space was plentiful and housing was still inexpensive. Growth during this era was fueled by the emergence of [[venture capital]] on [[Sand Hill Road]], beginning with [[Kleiner Perkins]] and [[Sequoia Capital]] in 1972; the availability of venture capital exploded after the successful $1.3&nbsp;billion [[Initial public offering|IPO]] of [[Apple Computer]] in December 1980. Since the 1980s, Silicon Valley has been home to the largest concentration of venture capital firms in the world.<ref name="WRichardScott">{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=W. Richard |last2=Lara |first2=Bernardo |last3=Biag |first3=Manuelito |last4=Ris |first4=Ethan |last5=Liang |first5=Judy |editor1-last=Scott |editor1-first=W. Richard |editor2-last=Kirst |editor2-first=Michael W. |title=Higher Education and Silicon Valley: Connected But Conflicted |date=2017 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=9781421423081 |page=65 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtoxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |access-date=August 11, 2019 |chapter=The Regional Economy of the San Francisco Bay Area}}</ref>

In 1971, [[Don Hoefler]] traced the origins of Silicon Valley firms, including via investments from [[Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild]]'s eight co-founders.<ref name=DH-71 /><ref name="NetValley">[http://www.netvalley.com/silicon_valley/Legal_Bridge_From_El_Dorado_to_Silicon_Valley.html A Legal Bridge Spanning 100 Years: From the Gold Mines of El Dorado to the "Golden" Startups of Silicon Valley] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601012834/http://www.netvalley.com/silicon_valley/Legal_Bridge_From_El_Dorado_to_Silicon_Valley.html |date=June 1, 2013 }} by Gregory Gromov</ref> The key investors in Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital were from the same group, directly leading to ''[[Tech Crunch]]'' 2014 estimate of 92 public firms of 130 related listed firms then worth over US$2.1 trillion with over 2,000 firms traced back to them.<ref name=Morris-2014>{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/26/the-first-trillion-dollar-startup/ |title=The First Trillion-Dollar Startup |work=[[Tech Crunch]] |first=Rhett |last=Morris |date=July 26, 2014 |access-date=February 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222151949/https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/26/the-first-trillion-dollar-startup/ |archive-date=February 22, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Banking===

Another important pillar of the Valley's success was [[Silicon Valley Bank]] (SVB), founded in 1983 by a group of former [[Bank of America]] executives.<ref name="WRichardScott" /> Before its [[Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank|2023 collapse]], SVB specialized in providing banking services to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and their startup firms. SVB's original primary commercial lending product was a [[working capital]] [[line of credit]], secured by a startup's [[accounts receivable]].<ref name="Dean_Page_314">{{cite book |last1=Dean |first1=John C. |editor1-last=Lee |editor1-first=Chong-Moon |editor2-last=Miller |editor2-first=William F. |editor3-last=Hancock |editor3-first=Marguerite Gong |editor4-last=Rowen |editor4-first=Henry S. |title=The Silicon Valley Edge: A Habitat for Innovation and Entrepreneurship |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804740630 |pages=314–324 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eK52augjU98C&pg=PA314 |access-date=December 3, 2023 |chapter=Fueling the Revolution: Commercial Bank Financing}}</ref> In contrast to traditional banks, who focused their commercial lending on already-established businesses, SVB specialized in lending money to small startup companies in the "preprofit" stage.<ref name="Dean_Page_314" />

===Lawyers and law firms===
Prior to 1970, most Northern California [[lawyer]]s were based in San Francisco, especially the experienced [[patent attorney]]s whom the high-tech industry needed to protect its intellectual property. During the 1970s, lawyers began to follow venture capitalists down the [[San Francisco Peninsula|Peninsula]] to serve the booming high-tech industry in Silicon Valley.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Stephen B. |last2=Chambers |first2=Dustin |last3=Schultz |first3=Michael |title=A moving target: The geographic evolution of Silicon Valley, 1953–1990 |journal=Business History |date=2018 |volume=60 |issue=6 |pages=859–883 |doi=10.1080/00076791.2017.1346612 |s2cid=157613638 }}</ref> As of 1999, there were 2,400 lawyers practicing law in Palo Alto, a city of only 50,000 people, "the densest concentration of lawyers" in the United States outside of [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="Friedman_Page_470">{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Lawrence M. |authorlink1=Lawrence M. Friedman |title=American Law in the Twentieth Century |date=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300102994 |page=470 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kZNwJZxRr0C&pg=PA470 |access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref>

By the year 2000, large [[law firm]]s from all over the world were rushing to establish offices in the mid-Peninsula region on or near Sand Hill Road, and Silicon Valley law firms had become global trendsetters in that they were the first legal services employers to adopt [[business casual]] apparel (in imitation of their startup clients).<ref name="Baker">{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Debra |title=Go West, Young Lawyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DAbP-o4iGkcC&pg=PA34 |access-date=July 9, 2023 |work=ABA Journal |date=May 2000 |pages=34–38, 97 }}</ref> During this era, lawyers evolved from their relatively narrow conventional role as protectors of intellectual property into business advisers, intermediaries, and dealmakers, and thereby acquired great prominence in Silicon Valley.<ref name="Baker" /><ref name="Suchman_Page_71">{{cite book |last1=Suchman |first1=Mark C. |editor1-last=Kenney |editor1-first=Martin |title=Understanding Silicon Valley: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneurial Region |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804737340 |pages=71–97 |chapter=Chapter Four: Dealmakers and Counselors: Law Firms as Intermediaries in the Development of Silicon Valley | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CLxzUW4V_2cC&pg=PA71 |access-date=July 9, 2023}}</ref> For young entrepreneurs new to the Valley's mysterious ways, their lawyer often served as their first coach, mentor, teacher, friend, and cheerleader who helped connect them to the Valley's startup ecosystem.<ref name="Johnson_Page_325">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Craig W. |editor1-last=Lee |editor1-first=Chong-Moon |editor2-last=Miller |editor2-first=William F. |editor3-last=Hancock |editor3-first=Marguerite Gong |editor4-last=Rowen |editor4-first=Henry S. |title=The Silicon Valley Edge: A Habitat for Innovation and Entrepreneurship |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804740630 |pages=325–341 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eK52augjU98C&pg=PA325 |access-date=December 3, 2023|chapter=Advising the New Economy: The Role of Lawyers}}</ref>

As of 2023, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area had the highest average wage for lawyers in the United States, at $268,570.<ref name="ABA_Wages">{{cite web |title=Wages |url=https://www.abalegalprofile.com/wages.html |website=ABA Profile of the Legal Profession 2024 |publisher=American Bar Association |access-date=December 18, 2024 |date=November 18, 2024}}</ref> ''[[Above the Law (website)|Above the Law]]'' occasionally publishes lists of top-performing Silicon Valley law firms, which it calls the "white sandal elite", a parody of the "[[white-shoe firm]]" descriptor traditionally applied to certain [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] professional services firms.<ref>[https://abovethelaw.com/2016/05/the-white-sandal-elite-the-go-to-law-firms-of-silicon-valley/ "The White Sandal Elite: The Go-To Law Firms of Silicon Valley"] ''Above the Law'', May 4, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://abovethelaw.com/2024/08/the-white-sandal-elite-the-go-to-law-firms-for-silicon-valley/ "The White Sandal Elite: The Go-To Law Firms For Silicon Valley"] ''Above the Law'', August 23, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.</ref>

===Rise of computer culture===
{{Main|Microcomputer revolution|Homebrew Computer Club}}
[[File:Invitation to First Homebrew Computer Club meeting.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Homebrew Computer Club]] was a highly influential computer hobbyist group in the 1970s and 80s that produced many influential tech founders, like [[Steve Jobs]] and [[Steve Wozniak]]. Pictured is the invitation to its first meeting in 1975.]]
The [[Homebrew Computer Club]] was an informal group of electronic enthusiasts and technically minded hobbyists who gathered to trade parts, [[Electronic circuit|circuits]], and information pertaining to [[DIY]] construction of computing devices.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atariarchives.org/deli/homebrew_and_how_the_apple.php |title=Homebrew And How The Apple Came To Be |work=atariarchives.org |access-date=April 19, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407041946/http://www.atariarchives.org/deli/homebrew_and_how_the_apple.php |archive-date=April 7, 2015}}</ref> It was started by [[Gordon French]] and [[Fred Moore (activist)|Fred Moore]] who met at the Community Computer Center in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]]. They both were interested in maintaining a regular, open forum for people to get together to work on making computers more accessible to everyone.<ref name=Dormouse>{{cite book |last=Markoff |first=John |year=2006 |orig-year=2005 |title=What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFbjjwEACAAJ |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-303676-0 |access-date=March 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905223806/https://books.google.com/books?id=NFbjjwEACAAJ |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The first meeting was held as of March 1975 at French's garage in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]], [[San Mateo County, California]]; which was on occasion of the arrival of the [[Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems|MITS]] [[Altair 8800|Altair]] microcomputer, the first unit sent to the area for review by [[People's Computer Company]]. [[Steve Wozniak]] and [[Steve Jobs]] credit that first meeting with inspiring them to design the original [[Apple I]] and (successor) [[Apple II]] computers. As a result, the first preview of the [[Apple I]] was given at the Homebrew Computer Club.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wozniak |first=Steve |title=iWoz |url=https://archive.org/details/iwozcomputergeek00wozn |url-access=registration |year=2006 |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-33043-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/iwozcomputergeek00wozn/page/150 150] |quote=After my first meeting, I started designing the computer that would later be known as the Apple I. It was that inspiring.}}</ref> Subsequent meetings were held at an auditorium at the [[SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory|Stanford Linear Accelerator Center]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freiberger |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Freiberger |last2=Swaine |first2=Michael |author-link2=Michael Swaine (technical author) |year=2000 |orig-year=1984 |title=Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer |url=https://archive.org/details/fireinvalleymaki00frei_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]] |isbn=978-0-07-135895-8}}</ref>

===Advent of software===
Although semiconductors are still a major component of the area's economy, Silicon Valley has been most famous in recent years for innovations in software and [[Internet]] services. Silicon Valley has significantly influenced computer operating systems, [[software]], and user interfaces. Using money from [[NASA]], the [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]], and [[DARPA|ARPA]], [[Douglas Engelbart]] invented the [[computer mouse|mouse]] and hypertext-based collaboration tools in the mid-1960s and 1970s while at [[Stanford Research Institute]] (now SRI International), first publicly demonstrated in 1968 in what is now known as [[The Mother of All Demos]].

Engelbart's [[Augmentation Research Center]] at SRI was also involved in launching the [[ARPANET]] (precursor to the [[Internet]]) and starting the [[InterNIC|Network Information Center]] (now [[InterNIC]]). [[Xerox]] hired some of Engelbart's best researchers beginning in the early 1970s. In turn, in the 1970s and 1980s, Xerox's [[PARC (company)|Palo Alto Research Center]] (PARC) played a pivotal role in [[object-oriented]] programming, [[graphical user interface]]s (GUIs), [[Ethernet]], [[PostScript]], and [[laser printer]]s.

While Xerox marketed equipment using its technologies, for the most part its technologies flourished elsewhere. The diaspora of Xerox inventions led directly to [[3Com]] and [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe Systems]], and indirectly to [[Cisco]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]], and [[Microsoft]]. Apple's [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] GUI was largely a result of [[Steve Jobs]]' visit to PARC and the subsequent hiring of key personnel.<ref>[http://apple-history.com/gui.html Graphical User Interface (GUI)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021001230844/http://www.apple-history.com/gui.html |date=October 1, 2002 }} from apple-history.com</ref> Cisco's impetus stemmed from the need to route a variety of protocols over [[Stanford University]]'s [[Ethernet]] [[campus network]].<ref>{{cite book |first=John K. |last=Waters |date=2002 |title=John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating Through Volatility |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780471273554 |page=28}}</ref>[[File:Steve Jobs presents iPhone (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Apple Inc.|Apple]] founder [[Steve Jobs]] introducing the [[IPhone (1st generation)|iPhone]] in 2007]]

=== Internet age ===
{{Main|Internet}}
{{see also|dot-com bubble}}
Commercial use of the Internet became practical and grew slowly throughout the early 1990s. In 1995, commercial use of the [[Internet]] grew substantially and the initial wave of internet startups, [[Amazon.com]], [[eBay]], and the predecessor to [[Craigslist]] began operations.<ref name=N1995>{{cite book |author1=W. Josephujjwal sarkar Campbell |title=1995: The Year the Future Began |date=January 2, 2015 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-27399-3 |chapter=The Year of the Internet}}</ref> Silicon Valley is generally considered to have been the center of the [[dot-com bubble]], which started in the mid-1990s and collapsed after the [[NASDAQ stock market]] began to decline dramatically in April 2000. During the bubble era, real estate prices reached unprecedented levels. For a brief time, [[Sand Hill Road]] was home to the most expensive commercial real estate in the world, and the booming economy resulted in severe [[traffic congestion]].

The [[PayPal Mafia]] is sometimes credited with inspiring the re-emergence of consumer-focused Internet companies after the [[dot-com bust]] of 2001.<ref>{{cite news |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/DDOH107DLG.DTL |date=May 16, 2008 |title=Nonfiction review: 'Once You're Lucky' |first=Marcus |last=Banks}}</ref> After the dot-com crash, Silicon Valley continues to maintain its status as one of the top research and development centers in the world. A 2006 ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' story found that 12 of the 20 most inventive towns in America were in California, and 10 of those were in Silicon Valley.<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115352188346314087 Reed Albergotti, "The Most Inventive Towns in America"], {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203065605/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115352188346314087 |date=December 3, 2017 }} ''Wall Street Journal'', July 22–23, 2006, P1.</ref> San Jose led the list with 3,867 utility patents filed in 2005, and number two was Sunnyvale, at 1,881 utility patents.<ref>''Ibid.''</ref> Silicon Valley is also home to a significant number of "[[Unicorn (finance)|Unicorn]]" ventures, referring to [[Startup company|startup companies]] whose [[Valuation (finance)|valuation]] has exceeded $1&nbsp;billion [[United States dollar|dollars]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Unicorn List |url=http://fortune.com/unicorns/xiaomi-1/ |access-date=April 6, 2015 |magazine=Fortune |date=January 22, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411235623/http://fortune.com/unicorns/xiaomi-1/ |archive-date=April 11, 2015}}</ref>