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Where is Silicon Valley located in California?

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Map of Silicon Valley with colored markers showing tech locations: blue historically important offices, green HQs, orange offices, and purple clusters across the Bay Area. — Silicon Valley Silicon Valley highlighting key historic tech offices, major tech headquarters, and offices with headquarters elsewhere.

Silicon Valley is an industrial region located in western California, situated around the southern shores of San Francisco Bay.12

The region encompasses northwestern Santa Clara County, extending inland to San Jose, and includes the southern bay areas of Alameda and San Mateo counties. Its intellectual center is recognized as Palo Alto, which is home to Stanford University. The area is globally renowned as a hub for electronics and computer technology, a name derived from the silicon used in semiconductors.1