Silicon Valley is the name for the South Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, encompassing the Santa Clara Valley, the southern peninsula, and the southern East Bay.
The area is home to many of the world’s largest technology corporations, like Google, Facebook, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as countless small startups. For this reason, Silicon Valley refers to both a geographic region, but also the tech culture that characterizes that region. The name, “Silicon Valley,” was originally coined by California entrepreneur Ralph Vaerst and referred to the region’s large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers.
Eventually, however, “Silicon Valley” was used to refer to high-tech businesses in the area generally. Now, it is also interpreted as a metonym for the American high-technology sector, as Silicon Valley continues to be the leading hub for high-tech innovation and development.