Silicon Valley Through the Years

The ever-changing dynamics of the heart of innovation—
the rise of tech, income inequality, innovation, and more.

Questions to think about while you’re going through this timeline.

The influx of tech has resulted in a major housing crisis, a loss of novelty, and an exodus of residents. How has this slowly come to be over time? How are 1960s Silicon Valley different from 2020s Silicon Valley? Similar? Have the changing dynamics of Silicon Valley affected you in your own life?

Silicon Valley has undergone numerous changes within the past 30 years as a result of the “tech boom” that’s exploded not only digitially, but also in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Compared to 30 years ago, the income gap has widened—the rich are getting richer due to generous salaries in tech; the poor are getting poorer as jobs are now being outsourced, contracted, automated; native residents are leaving due to rising costs, and the region’s middle class is smaller with the average household income increasing.

The past few decades of growing culture has facilitated not only an digital divide, but also, a growing income / societal divide.



The ever-changing dynamics of the heart of innovation—
the rise of tech, income inequality, innovation, and more.







On October 1, 1891, Leland Stanford Junior University opened. Enrollment at the tuition-free institution almost doubled expectations with 440 students, about one-quarter women.

1891


1912

In 1912 Lee de Forest and his collaborators first successfully utilized the vacuum tube to amplify sound. This technology became the basis for radio, radar, television, tape recorders and ultimately electronic computers.

In 1933, the Navy purchased Moffett Field to dock and maintain the USS Macon. This made Moffett Field a major hub for the early days of the aerospace industry. Many scientists and researchers all found work in the area.

1933


1939

In 1939, the Ames Research Center was founded in the area, and it became home to the world's largest wind tunnel in 1949.



1939

Also in 1939, William Hewlett and Dave Packard founded Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, which originally made oscilloscopes.

In the 1940s, William Shockley invented the transistor while at Bell Labs. The transistor is now known as the computer processor.

1947


1951

Frederick Terman, as Stanford University's dean of the school of engineering, encouraged faculty and graduates to start their own companies. Terman spearheaded the creation of Stanford Industrial Park, leased to high-tech firms. He is credited with nurturing companies like Hewlett-Packard, until what would become Silicon Valley grew up around the Stanford campus.

Shockley left Bell and founded his own company — Shockley Semiconductor Labs. It was the first company to make transistors out of silicon and not germanium. This is when silicon comes to “Silicon Valley”.

1956


1965

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and other factors such as the mass exodus by Vietnamese boat people would result in significant immigration, particularly by Asians, Latinos, and Portuguese, to Silicon Valley where they contributed to both the high-tech and production workforce.

In 1969, the Stanford Research Institute became one of the four nodes of ARPANET, a government research project that would go on to become the internet.

1969


1971

In 1971, journalist Don Hoefler titled a 3-part report on the semiconductor industry "SILICON VALLEY USA." The name stuck.

The University of California at Berkeley granted graduate degrees in science and engineering to a fast-increasing proportion of students from Mainland China between 1980 and 1997. As a result, immigrants from Mainland China were a growing presence in Silicon Valley’s technology workforce in the 1980s-1990s.

1980


1984

A new era was born in January 1984 when Apple introduced the Macintosh, the successor to the Lisa, the result of a project started in 1979 by Jef Raskin who had dreamed of a "computer appliance".



1984

The 1980s had witnessed a rapid rise in the status of the software engineer. Steven Levy's book "Hackers - Heroes of the Computer Revolution" (1984) glorified them.

In 1986 Larry Harvey started the first "Burning Man" on Baker Beach in San Francisco. In a sense it represented a fusion of the psychedelic and of the hobbyist cultures of the Bay Area.

1986


1989

In 1989 San Jose passed San Francisco in population.

In December 1991 physicist Paul Kunz set up the first World-wide Web server in the USA at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

1991


1996

34 million households owned a computer in 1996 in the USA.

AOL Instant Messenger launched by AOL in May 1997, and allowed instant messaging to reach the masses and become a viable alternative to a phone call.

1997


1998

In 1998 two Stanford students, Larry Page and Russian-born Sergey Brin, launched a new search engine running on Linux, Google, an offshoot of a research project begun in 1996. Google ranked web pages according to how "popular" they were on the Web (i.e. how many web pages linked to them).



1998

By 1998 Chinese and Indian engineers ran about 25% of Silicon Valley's high-tech businesses, accounting for $16.8 billion in sales and 58,000 jobs.



1998

Steve Jobs used the experience in design that he had gained at NeXT, as well as the skills of British designer Jonathon Ive, to create the sexy iMac that debuted in 1998 leading to the resurrection of the company.

In 1999 "dotcom" startups would receive more than 40% of venture capital investment.

1999


2004

In February 2004 Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched the social-networking service Facebook. It soon spread from college to college. Weeks later Zuckerberg and friends relocated to Silicon Valley and obtained funding from Peter Thiel of PayPal.

Creating a lab in India (where software engineers earned a fraction of Silicon Valley engineers) was a relatively painless way to dramatically cut costs. By 2005 more than 50% of all jobs outsourced by Silicon Valley companies went to India.

2005


2006

By 2006 Google had indexed more than eight billion pages, coming from the 100 million websites registered on the Web. In March 2006 the English version of Wikipedia passed one million articles. The Internet was being accessed by 1.25 billion people in the world.

The global recession comes late to Silicon Valley, but the recession hits the region resulting in rising unemployment rates.

2008


2010

Residents are moving out of the Bay Area due to rising housing prices. The top three destinations for out-of-state moves from the Bay Area are Seattle, Portland, and Austin. In addition, the percentage of households earning more than $100,000 a year rose to 42 percent in 2008, from 35 percent in 2002.



2010

Machine learning finally came of age in the 2010s and is now table stakes for every tech company, large and small. Accumulating a data asset around your product and service and using sophisticated machine learning models to personalize and improve your product is not a nice to have, but is a must have.

Obama campaign insiders say they see technology and data as the killer app for the upcoming election. With the rise of social networks and mobile devices, plus a growing analytics tool set for finely targeting messages, engineers are becoming a vital resource for political candidates. "They want to make sure they have a presence here in Silicon Valley".

2012


2016

Starting with the 2016 U.S. election, it becomes clear that social media giants are also massive publishers of disinformation and polarizing propaganda that could harm democracy itself.

In 2017, CEO and founder Travis Kalanick was ousted after a series of scandals ranging from reports of sexual harassment to aggressive strategies to take down the competition. Silicon Valley CEOs are under fire in the “me too” age.

2017


2018

Social media is on the rise, and prominent among younger and younger generations. Apps such as Snapchat, Vine, TikTok, Instagram, and more rise in market share.

Income inequality in Silicon Valley is now at a "historic high," according to the report, with 13% of the households holding more than 75% of the region's wealth.

2020

Leland Stanford Junior University On October 1, 1891, Leland Stanford Junior University opened. Enrollment at the tuition-free institution almost doubled expectations with 440 students, about one-quarter women.

Lee de Forest In 1912 Lee de Forest and his collaborators first successfully utilized the vacuum tube to amplify sound. This technology became the basis for radio, radar, television, tape recorders and ultimately electronic computers.
Moffett Field In 1933, the Navy purchased Moffett Field to dock and maintain the USS Macon. This made Moffett Field a major hub for the early days of the aerospace industry. Many scientists and researchers all found work in the area.

Ames Research Center In 1939, the Ames Research Center was founded in the area, and it became home to the world's largest wind tunnel in 1949.


Hewlett-Packard Also in 1939, William Hewlett and Dave Packard founded Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, which originally made oscilloscopes.
William Shockley In the 1940s, William Shockley invented the transistor while at Bell Labs. The transistor is now known as the computer processor.

Stanford Industrial Park Frederick Terman, as Stanford University's dean of the school of engineering, encouraged faculty and graduates to start their own companies. Terman spearheaded the creation of Stanford Industrial Park, leased to high-tech firms. He is credited with nurturing companies like Hewlett-Packard, until what would become Silicon Valley grew up around the Stanford campus.
Shockley Semiconductor Labs In 1956, Shockley left Bell and founded his own company — Shockley Semiconductor Labs. It was the first company to make transistors out of silicon and not germanium. This is when silicon comes to “Silicon Valley”.

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and other factors such as the mass exodus by Vietnamese boat people would result in significant immigration, particularly by Asians, Latinos, and Portuguese, to Silicon Valley where they contributed to both the high-tech and production workforce.
ARPANET In 1969, the Stanford Research Institute became one of the four nodes of ARPANET, a government research project that would go on to become the internet.

SILICON VALLEY USA. In 1971, journalist Don Hoefler titled a 3-part report on the semiconductor industry "SILICON VALLEY USA." The name stuck.
UCB The University of California at Berkeley granted graduate degrees in science and engineering to a fast-increasing proportion of students from Mainland China between 1980 and 1997. As a result, immigrants from Mainland China were a growing presence in Silicon Valley’s technology workforce in the 1980s-1990s.

Macintosh A new era was born in January 1984 when Apple introduced the Macintosh, the successor to the Lisa, the result of a project started in 1979 by Jef Raskin who had dreamed of a "computer appliance".


Steven Levy The 1980s had witnessed a rapid rise in the status of the software engineer. Steven Levy's book "Hackers - Heroes of the Computer Revolution" (1984) glorified them.
Burning Man In 1986 Larry Harvey started the first "Burning Man" on Baker Beach in San Francisco. In a sense it represented a fusion of the psychedelic and of the hobbyist cultures of the Bay Area.

San Jose In 1989 San Jose passed San Francisco in population.
WWW In December 1991 physicist Paul Kunz set up the first World-wide Web server in the USA at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).

34 Million 34 million households owned a computer in 1996 in the USA.
AOL AOL Instant Messenger launched by AOL in May 1997, and allowed instant messaging to reach the masses and become a viable alternative to a phone call.

Google In 1998 two Stanford students, Larry Page and Russian-born Sergey Brin, launched a new search engine running on Linux, Google, an offshoot of a research project begun in 1996. Google ranked web pages according to how "popular" they were on the Web (i.e. how many web pages linked to them).


1998 Chinese and Indian engineers By 1998 Chinese and Indian engineers ran about 25% of Silicon Valley's high-tech businesses, accounting for $16.8 billion in sales and 58,000 jobs.


iMac Steve Jobs used the experience in design that he had gained at NeXT, as well as the skills of British designer Jonathon Ive, to create the sexy iMac that debuted in 1998 leading to the resurrection of the company.
dotcom In 1999 "dotcom" startups would receive more than 40% of venture capital investment.

Facebook In February 2004 Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched the social-networking service Facebook. It soon spread from college to college. Weeks later Zuckerberg and friends relocated to Silicon Valley and obtained funding from Peter Thiel of PayPal.
India Creating a lab in India (where software engineers earned a fraction of Silicon Valley engineers) was a relatively painless way to dramatically cut costs. By 2005 more than 50% of all jobs outsourced by Silicon Valley companies went to India.

Google 2006 By 2006 Google had indexed more than eight billion pages, coming from the 100 million websites registered on the Web. In March 2006 the English version of Wikipedia passed one million articles. The Internet was being accessed by 1.25 billion people in the world.
Recession The 2008 global recession comes late to Silicon Valley, but the recession hits the region resulting in rising unemployment rates.

Moving Out By 2010, residents are moving out of the Bay Area due to rising housing prices. The top three destinations for out-of-state moves from the Bay Area are Seattle, Portland, and Austin. In addition, the percentage of households earning more than $100,000 a year rose to 42 percent in 2008, from 35 percent in 2002.


Moving Out Machine learning finally came of age in the 2010s and is now table stakes for every tech company, large and small. Accumulating a data asset around your product and service and using sophisticated machine learning models to personalize and improve your product is not a nice to have, but is a must have.
Obama 2012 2012 Obama campaign insiders say they see technology and data as the killer app for the upcoming election. With the rise of social networks and mobile devices, plus a growing analytics tool set for finely targeting messages, engineers are becoming a vital resource for political candidates. "They want to make sure they have a presence here in Silicon Valley".
FB Hacking Starting with the 2016 U.S. election, it becomes clear that social media giants are also massive publishers of disinformation and polarizing propaganda that could harm democracy itself.


Uber In 2017, CEO and founder Travis Kalanick was ousted after a series of scandals ranging from reports of sexual harassment to aggressive strategies to take down the competition. Silicon Valley CEOs are under fire in the “me too” age.

Social Media Social media is on the rise, and prominent among younger and younger generations. Apps such as Snapchat, Vine, TikTok, Instagram, and more rise in market share.
2020 Income inequality in Silicon Valley is now at a "historic high," according to the report, with 13% of the households holding more than 75% of the region's wealth.