Organizations and Markets

The Early History of Silicon Valley

13 February 2008 at 9:36 am Peter G. Klein 1 comment

| Peter Klein |

Most historical accounts of Silicon Valley start in the 1970s or later. Christophe Lecuyer’s Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970, reminds us that the seeds of the first modern high-tech cluster were planted much earlier. Fairchild is central to the story, of course, but so is Eitel-McCullough (Eimac) in the 1930s and 1940s, Litton in the 1940s and 1950s, and Varian in the 1960s (them, not him). Lecuyer, writes reviewer Glenn Bugos,

seeks to define Silicon Valley as an industrial district, akin to the Marshallian industrial districts that economic historians have begun to explore. Also, he integrates into his story the many extant, divergent strands of Silicon Valley historiography. Into his manufacturing-driven narrative, we see the trends other historians have emphasized — military funding, the shake-out following the McNamara consolidation, the role of Stanford University in generating expertise, and the importance of workplace culture.

Entry filed under: - Klein -, Business/Economic History.