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

Silicon Valley has stopped talking politics—except for this Google executive.

From The Wall Street Journal

Lincoln — along with Martha Kenney, a professor in the university’s Department of Women and Gender Studies — are behind the petition asking CSU to “invest in humans” and “reject Silicon Valley’s AI hype.”

From Los Angeles Times

OpenAI completed the largest funding round in Silicon Valley history, raising $122 billion ahead of a blockbuster IPO expected by the end of the year.

From The Wall Street Journal

With energy-hungry projects requiring huge workforces and sprawling supply chains, companies including SLB, Baker Hughes and even major oil companies have vied to capture more of Silicon Valley’s spending spree.

From The Wall Street Journal

Loyal customers like the Silicon Valley crowd dropped the brand.

From The Wall Street Journal