Mind map
Silicon Valley
Mind map: Silicon Valley
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Silicon Valley
What is it?
- Nickname for the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States.
- The "Silicon" part of the name refers to the high concentration of companies involved in the making of semiconductors.
- The capital and largest city is San Jose
Why is it so important?
- It is home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations
- Adobe
- Apple
- Cisco
- Ebay
- Yahoo
- Amazon
- Pixar
- Microsoft
- The first electronics company established in Silicon Valley was Hewlett-Packard
- It is home to many of the world's largest high-tech corporations
Watch "Pirates of Silicon Valley" by Martyn Burke
- Brief history of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
- How Apple and Microsoft was born
First called "Silicon Valley" in 1971 by a local newsletter writer, Donald C. Hoefler
Foreign competition, especially from Japan, caused perhaps the greatest problems for Silicon Valley.
- Silicon Valley had begun to worry about Japanese competition by the late 1970s. In 1981, U.S. companies controlled 51.4 percent of the world's semiconductor market; Japan's share was 35.5 percent.
- Within seven years the figures had virtually reversed themselves, with Japan at 51 percent and the United States 36.5 percent.
- Silicon Valley had begun to worry about Japanese competition by the late 1970s. In 1981, U.S. companies controlled 51.4 percent of the world's semiconductor market; Japan's share was 35.5 percent.