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

Example Sentences

The Gray Lady’s dreary Luddites are as suspicious of Times management as they are of Silicon Valley.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

People in Silicon Valley talk about waves of innovation.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026

Glatzer: I don’t think anybody that I spoke with in Silicon Valley or in that world — very few of them had that honesty in terms of self-knowledge.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026

The catalyst for Jonathan Glatzer to create “The Audacity,” AMC’s dark satire of Silicon Valley that takes aim at the desperation that plagues it, began as a father witnessing his teenage son’s relationship with tech.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026

He grew up in Mountain View, California, just south of San Francisco, which is the absolute epicenter of Silicon Valley.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell