Silicon Valley

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noun

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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Origin of Silicon Valley

So called from the silicon wafers employed in semiconductor devices

Words nearby Silicon Valley

Silicon Glen, siliconized, silicon rectifier, silicon tetrachloride, silicon tetrafluoride, Silicon Valley, silicosis, silicula, siliculose, siliqua, silique

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Silicon Valley in a sentence

John Markoff argues that the rise of tech hubs like Silicon Valley owes much more to serendipity than their boosters like to admit.
What progress means|Katie McLean|February 24, 2021|MIT Technology Review
A well-funded Silicon Valley startup now says it has a battery that will make electric vehicles far more palatable for the mass consumer.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2021|David Rotman|February 24, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Others were all too conscious of Silicon Valley’s checkered reputation when it came to privacy.
Digital contact tracing brought tech rivals together while the pandemic kept us apart|Lindsay Muscato|February 24, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Silicon Valley, in many ways, owes its very existence to the mystique that first emerged in the 1970s, creating a magnetic force that has continuously pulled the best and the brightest from all over the world.
Why it’s a mistake to bet against Silicon Valley|Katie McLean|February 24, 2021|MIT Technology Review

Since around the mid-2000s—shortly after our first TR10 list—growth in TFP has been sluggish and disappointing, especially given the flood of new technologies coming from places like Silicon Valley.
Are you ready to be a techno-optimist again?|Katie McLean|February 24, 2021|MIT Technology Review
A brilliant Silicon Valley entrepreneur may have found a way to get dark money out of politics without changing any laws.
How to Fight Corruption With Game Theory|Mark McKinnon|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Greer is a young, entrepreneurial, poker-loving Texan who ended up in Silicon Valley.
How to Fight Corruption With Game Theory|Mark McKinnon|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In Silicon Valley proper, that number increases to $108,603, marking a 7.2 percent year-over-year increase.
Silicon Valley Interns Make a Service Worker’s Yearly Salary In Three Months|Samantha Allen|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Normally Democratic Silicon Valley opened up its wallets to the Republicans this time out.
Earth to DNC: Dyspeptic Dad Still Votes, Too|Lloyd Green|November 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
South of Silicon Valley, an entire town is being deformed, slowly, by plate tectonics.
Silicon Valley Mansions, Swallowed Alive|Geoff Manaugh|November 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He was still wearing the blue blazer and khakis he wore on the days that he was consulting in Silicon Valley.
Little Brother|Cory Doctorow
The "Silicon Valley" revolution is likely to continue increasing computer capacity on an almost annual basis.
Shock and Awe|Harlan K. Ullman

British Dictionary definitions for Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

noun

an industrial strip in W California, extending S of San Francisco, in which the US information technology industry is concentrated

any area in which industries associated with information technology are concentrated

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

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.

notes for Silicon Valley

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.”