Silicon Valley

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.

Silicon Valley

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

Silicon Valley

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.

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.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of Silicon Valley¹

So called from the silicon wafers employed in semiconductor devices

Example Sentences

On one side is the brash, Silicon Valley “move fast and break things” ethos, where asking for forgiveness is seen as preferable to asking for permission.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

OK, but the conventional wisdom among many in Silicon Valley is that AI-powered chatbots and assistants will replace the need for search.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

And as these increasingly complex financing arrangements get more and more common, the experts here in Silicon Valley say they may be clouding perceptions on AI demand.

Read more on BBC

As a CEO in the old Silicon Valley mold—an engineer who intimately knows the technology she’s selling—Su is deftly navigating challenges that have tripped up other tech-industry leaders.

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“He’s one of the very few Silicon Valley people who really understands everything,” Roux says.

Read more on Barron's