One office park had an outsized role in the birth of Silicon Valley

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Before Silicon Valley became the largest tech hub in the world, it was an agricultural area known for its flowers and fruit

It was called the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.” This video by Vox explains how the area went from growing prunes to producing computer chips. It also explains how Stanford University had a big impact on the area’s development.

Meet Frederick Terman: Stanford University professor and the 'Father of Silicon Valley'

Stanford University professor Frederick Terman used to encourage his students to start their own tech companies. His advice led to the creation of Hewlett-Packard. He also established the Stanford Research Park, which helped develop many successful tech companies today. Terman is often called the "Father of Silicon Valley," because his ideology directly shaped the region's development.

Your iPhone started with a Cold War secret

Silicon Valley wasn't supposed to happen. A stretch of California orchard land somehow became the place that built the modern world: chips, PCs, the internet, the smartphone, and now AI. But the real story isn't the garage myth. It's a series of contradictions hiding in plain sight.

See a timeline of Silicon Valley's greatest innovations

Silicon Valley is home to some of the biggest innovations of the last century. From radio communicators in the 1930s, to personal computers in the 1970s, the Valley has been the center of technological innovation for decades.

How a garage became the birthplace of Silicon Valley

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard are well known for founding the company Hewlett-Packard. But before their success, Hewlett and Packard sat in a garage and created their first product together. Today, that garage is deemed the "birthplace of Silicon Valley" and is marked as a historical site.

Learn how eight 'traitors' played an essential role in founding Silicon Valley

In the 1950s, William Shockley led the way in the semiconductor business. Everything changed in 1957, after eight of his engineers—whom he called the "Traitorous Eight"—left his company to start their own. Their company, named Fairchild Semiconductor, employed many future founders of major Silicon Valley companies. Today, the Traitorous Eight are considered among the founders of Silicon Valley.

Coined in 1971, the man credited with naming Silicon Valley was originally writing about semiconductors

Silicon Valley gained its name from an article published in January 1971, in Electronic News. Author Don Hoefler used the term in his headline for an article he was writing about the semiconductor industry. Hoefler is credited with naming the multi-trillion dollar area that is still called Silicon Valley today.

The infrastructure, talent, and markets of Silicon Valley make the high-tech region ideal for startups

The number of startup employees, founders, and investors who have flocked to Silicon Valley over the years makes the California region ideal for networking in the tech space. Plus, California’s laws and specific rules around trade secrets help founders of fledgling businesses in Silicon Valley feel protected.

Worth more than $14T, Silicon Valley may be getting too expensive for future founders

Silicon Valley, the 1,800-square-mile hub of tech innovation, reached more than $14T in market value in 2024. Home to industry giants like Apple and Adobe, its influence is undeniable. But rising costs and corporate relocations raise questions about its future.

Completed in 2017, Apple's headquarters cost $5 billion dollars

Apple Park features a ring-shaped main building that accommodates over 12,000 employees, situated above a two-story underground parking garage equipped with its own traffic light system. Inspired by Stanford University's foliage, Steve Jobs hired one of their arborists to oversee the planting of over 9,000 indigenous trees.

Stanford’s ‘How to Start a Startup’ series

Stanford’s archive of lectures about creating a startup includes advice from Y Combinator notables such as former YC president and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and YC Cofounder Paul Graham.

‘Eureka Park’ is CES' startup hub at Vegas’ famed Venetian

For years, new ventures looking for funding and a network appeared alongside established bigwigs like Microsoft and Sony at CES. In 2012, CES created “Eureka Park,” a part of the convention where startups could congregate (some viewed it as being sidelined at the time). Producers of hit reality show “Shark Tank” scout new startups in the park every year.

See an analysis of the similarities between the characters in 'Silicon Valley' and the real people who inspired them

The HBO show "Silicon Valley" follows the story of an engineer who is trying to get his startup to take off in Silicon Valley. While one tech CEO said the show is like a documentary, many speculate the show is based on real life tech figures like Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel.

How venture capital firms came to be

The venture capital firm that kickstarted an industry.

Take a tour of Google's headquarters

With its vibrant and cutting-edge design, the so-called "Googleplex" is synonymous with Silicon Valley and surrounds employees with lush green space and unique artwork. Amenities include massage therapy, a medical clinic, and nap pods to inspire creativity.

Over 400 tech companies call Santa Barbara home

The city boasts a strong talent pipeline from UCSB, established tech companies like Sonos and Procore and dozens of startups. Search for any company in Santa Barbara with this regularly-updated directory.

In 2020, Palantir moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Denver, CO

Despite being a famous tech startup synonymous with Silicon Valley, Palantir executives and cofounders have criticized tech founders for not taking a bigger role in upholding Western institutions and supporting American defense and intelligence work. That cultural tension is frequently cited as a motivating factor for the company's 2020 move to Denver, CO. In early 2026, the company announced another move to a suburb of Miami, FL.

Vintage 1980s photos of the streets of San Francisco

In the early 1980s, San Francisco was changing amid increased diversity and a nascent tech boom. This series of photos from 1981 and 1982 was found of the evolving city, depicting trolleys, doorsteps, storefronts, and more from a time very different from today. Explore the vintage shots here.

Google began as a Stanford University dorm room project

Launched in 1998, Google revolutionized search engines with its clean design and PageRank algorithm. As of 2025, Google has about 90% of the search market share but faces new challenges from AI-powered competitors and regulatory scrutiny.

How Elon Musk's businesses have shaped Texas' Bastrop County

After deadly wildfires in 2011 burned a significant portion of the county, the tech boom in Austin pushed development eastward. Elon Musk has since made the region a key hub of his businesses, including a Tesla gigafactory considered one of the largest factories in the world by volume. Watch this reporter visit the town to hear the pros and cons of the transformation.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

Starbase is SpaceX's testing ground for their most powerful rocket, Starship

Located near the southernmost part of Texas, the complex includes rocket bays, test pads, the "Rocket Garden" where flown, cancelled, or retired spacecraft are kept. The outdoor seating area of the site's private restaurant is covered in Mk1 Starship prototype flaps.

Hollywood, explained

It all began in 1887 when Hollywood was registered as a small town before merging with Los Angeles in 1910. Filmmakers moved west to avoid Thomas Edison’s patent lawsuits, and the sunny California climate provided the perfect setting for year-round production. By the 1910s, studios like Paramount and Warner Bros. established themselves, and Hollywood's global dominance was cemented during its golden age from the 1930s to the 1950s.

How parking infrastructure reveals a region's values

As cars became more popular, the need for city parking increased. In Europe, well-established cities with limited space generally opted for more expensive underground parking beneath public spaces to preserve aesthetics. Available land and decentralized planning in the US saw more parking lots and garages built. These decisions reveal broader policy realities for these regions.

WeWork marketed itself on community

In a new era of work where many millennials wanted to work for themselves in offices with exposed brick, cold brew on tap, and casual dress codes, WeWork realized these entrepreneurs and startup workers didn’t want to do it alone.

Pizza Hut helped pioneer online food delivery

The company's PizzaNet website launched in 1994, allowing users to order pizza online for the first time. The service launched in select areas of Santa Cruz, California, though its servers were located in Kansas. Every order was relayed to the preferred branch in California, who would then call the user to confirm the order.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.