Special Feature :
Mtn . View : Home to the 50-year revolution that drove Silicon Valley
By David A . Laws Semiconductor Curator , Computer History Museum
On January 11 , 1971 , the industry newspaper Electronic News published an article on the rise of the semiconductor industry in the Santa Clara Valley . Reporter Don Hoefler titled the story “ Silicon Valley USA .” He thought the nickname was more appropriate than the prior “ Valley of Hearts Delight ,” derived from the region ’ s agricultural roots . The new name stuck .
While the name Silicon Valley is now 50 years old , a series of entrepreneurial ventures that began 50 years earlier laid the groundwork for its success . Starting early in the 1920s with radio communications , followed by microwave devices , electronic instruments , and magnetic recording , the area built a foundation of technical expertise . Coupled with the proximity to Stanford University , this capability attracted William Shockley , one of the transistor ’ s inventors at Bell Telephone Labs , to establish Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Mountain View in 1956 . Shockley ’ s plan to develop silicon semiconductor devices failed when his difficult leadership style drove eight of his leading employees to defect and start their own company .
Funded by East Coast industrialist Sherman Fairchild in 1957 , the group , which became known as the Traitorous Eight , developed an improved silicon transistor that found immediate application in aerospace and military defense systems . By 1960 , Fairchild Semiconductor ’ s sales exceeded $ 20 million — that ’ s equivalent to nearly $ 200 million today . With multiple buildings scattered across Mountain View ’ s East Whisman campus , the company was like the 1960s version of Google . Fairchild would probably have remained a successful player in the emerging semiconductor business but a new manufacturing technique called the “ planar process ,” invented by co-founder Jean Hoerni , sparked a revolution .
Planar made better and more reliable transistors . But most importantly , it transformed the production of semiconductors from a handcrafting operation into a high-volume , electronic lithographic “ printing ” process that lowered costs and made them viable in new applications . Cofounder Robert Noyce realized that the technique also made it possible to interconnect
Clipping of the January 11 , 1979 Electronic News article that popularized the nickname of “ Silicon Valley ” for the Santa Clara Valley . ( Image courtesy of David Laws .)
multiple transistors into a complete electronic circuit on a single silicon chip . Noyce ’ s integrated circuit ( IC ), or microchip , enabled smaller , faster , cheaper , and more reliable electronic systems .
In 1965 , another Fairchild founder , Gordon Moore , observed that continual improvements in technology had allowed a steady increase with time in the number of components on each IC . From this data , he projected an annual growth in complexity known as “ Moore ’ s Law .” Engineers across the semiconductor industry accepted the challenge of squeezing ever more transistors onto their new IC designs , leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy . This trend continues today as manufacturers routinely put billions of transistors on a chip .
Rheem Semiconductor , the first Fairchild spin-off in 1959 , was followed in quick succession by founder Jay Last ’ s Amelco Semiconductor and then by Signetics , the first stand-alone IC company . In 1972 , another founder , Eugene Kleiner , started the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and fellow alumnus Don Valentine started Sequoia Capital Management . Both firms funded hundreds of technology-based startups . Numerous other spin-offs , including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ), known as “ Fairchildren ,” followed as employees left to pursue dreams of creative and financial independence .
The serendipitous combination of Hoerni ’ s planar process , Noyce ’ s conception of the IC , and Moore ’ s Law created a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurship that changed Silicon Valley from just another emerging hub of the electronics industry into a world-renowned center of innovation and entrepreneurial activity .
8