Silicon Valley

American  

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.

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Silicon Valley British  

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

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Silicon Valley Cultural  

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.

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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.”

Etymology

Origin of Silicon Valley

So called from the silicon wafers employed in semiconductor devices

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Silicon Valley

“When you go back and visit family, you started to see how Silicon Valley — we just call it the Bay Area — was changing,” Robert said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Barnum-like qualities of certain larger-than-life entrepreneurs, you know, and you see that a lot in Silicon Valley .

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

After returning to Silicon Valley, he met an M.B.A. student at Stanford’s business school, Robin Richards, who shared that interest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

An a-Muse-ing trend: The newest creations from Silicon Valley are hyper-adorable digital assistants, most notably Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots.

From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026

In California and New York, in the advertising world and in Silicon Valley, it became a kind of cult object that matched the stripped-down aesthetic of the new economy.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

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