Silicon Valley before the tech boom
Entrepreneurship consultant Rick Rasmussen looks back to his childhood in Silicon Valley, a radically different place than it is today, characterized primarily by sprawling orchards and canneries. The presence of the defense industry, however, slowly transformed the area into the high-tech capital of the word.
Storyteller: Rick Rasmussen
Date of Story: 1950s-present
Location of Story: Silicon Valley, California, U.S.A.
Location: San Jose, California, U.S.A.
Date: 9 November, 2015
A rendering of Silicon Valley before the tech boom, properly known as Santa Clara Valley.
Orchards dominated this primarily agricultural landscape until the acceleration of the semiconductor industry in the 1970s.
This chart illustrates Silicon Valley’s spectacular growth over the last decades and the industries that fueled it.