Eight regional profiles;

              Eicjnt
Reqionai
Profiles
Silicon vaiieu
The name Silicon Valley was
derived from a discovery approxi­mately
30 years ago that silicon,
the second most abundant
element in nature, can be grown
in crystalline form, sliced and
polished, and then used as the
basic medium into which
semiconductor devices can be
implanted. Today, nearly every
high-technology company makes
use of this basic scientific discovery.
Much of the credit for the
Silicon Valley's existence must go
to Stanford University and Dr.
Fred Terman, its former dean of
engineering. In the 1930s and
1940s, Dr. Terman was encour­aging
Stanford's engineering
professors and students to get
involved with local industry, not
as consultants but as participants
—entrepreneurs. Two of those
students, Dave Packard and Bill
Hewlett, heeded this advice and
founded a company in 1938.
Others followed suit. To en­courage
the process, Stanford
University opened an industrial
park connected with its campus.
From its humble beginnings
three decades ago, Silicon Valley
has evolved into an industrial
center possessing the qualities
necessary to nurture and sustain
high-technology companies of all
types. These qualities include:
universities, such as Stanford,
which provide engineers and
other professionals, research facil­ities,
and other benefits of close
academic-industrial relations;
suppliers, which are nearby to
meet the industry's specialized
needs; professional advisors, such
as bankers, who are comfortable
with high-tech language and
understand the needs of the
valley's young companies; and
venture capital, which is more
accessible here than any other
place in the world.
Because its high standard of
living and housing costs have
pushed wages to a higher level
than elsewhere, the probability is
that in the future other high-technology
centers will attract
manufacturing facilities faster
than the Silicon Valley. On the
other hand, companies probably
will continue to locate their
headquarters, research and devel­opment
facilities, and manufac­turing
there. Why? Because the
basic inducements are there.
Because a valuable interchange
exists there among professionals
and between companies. And,
simply, because the executives
like to live there.
—Jon Richards, San Jose
central Florida
There is a saying in Orlando
about the changes taking place
in the high-tech industry:
"California is where it was;
Texas is where it is; and Florida
is where it's gonna be."
Florida's ranking by a major
financial services company as
the number one state in which
manufacturers would like to
locate plants supports the idea
that Florida has the potential to
become a major center in the
rapidly growing high-tech
industry. In fact, development in
the high-tech industry in Florida
in the past several years has been
significant, with Central Florida
emerging as the state's hub of
high-tech.
The development of high tech
in Central Florida began in the
late 1950s, when Martin Marietta
opened its defense plant near
Orlando. Within a few years,
this company became one of
the state's largest industrial em­ployers,
with more than 8,000
employees. Soon thereafter,