26) The First Articles on Silicon Valley

  
The first articles from the “Electronic News” using the name “Silicon Valley” (Click to enlarge)

On the west coast of the United States, the southern coast of the San Francisco Bay (or the “bay area”) lies the region of the birthplace of the world’s semiconductor industry, where many major companies in this industry gather. This place is none other than Silicon Valley. The “valley” in the name refers to the Santa Clara Valley, with its rolling hills.

It began to be called this as early as the early 1970s when the full-scale production of IC began, but the individual who gave birth to this name remains unclear. From what I can think of, it may be the reporter of the weekly industry paper, “Electronic News” Don C. Hoefler, who wrote a series of articles with this name for the first time. The picture above is of three series articles from the January 11, 1971 issue, with the title of "Silicon Valley USA", about the behind-the-scenes of "people, money, trials" in this industry drawn in the style of Sengoku history. The first issue with a second and third page spread, familiar faces such as Moore, Hoerni, Noyce, and Shockley appeared in large-sized photographs.

I obtained this series from Mr. Ikuro Yasui of the Kanematsu Electronics Division (later to be the managing director) and used a lot of its writing in my first book "The IC Industry War" (Diamond Company).

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