Silicon Valley
proper noun
Forms Silicon Valleys Silicone Valley
- proper noun (informal) Originally, the region of the San Francisco Bay Area in which there were a high number of industries producing silicon chips; later extended to mean the entire concentration of high-tech businesses in this area.
- proper noun (metonymic) The tech industry, especially the American tech industry specifically.
- proper noun (countable) A tech industry cluster in another country, developed as a competitor to the original Silicon Valley.
Etymology
From Silicon Valley USA, the title of a series of articles appearing in 1971 in Electronic News by the journalist Don Hoefler, from silicon, an important element in semiconductor manufacturing + valley from Santa Clara Valley, the area where many of these industries are located.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Silicon Valley”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details