President's Blog

Silicon Valley

While at Stanford, I used to run into William Shockley once in a while in the narrow and semi-dark hallways of the McCullough Building. But being a young student back then I did not fully comprehend that I was talking to a giant of a man who led California's "Silicon Valley" to become the hotbed of electronics innovation and usher an information revolution.

Today, for the young generation it is hard to envision life without computers, internet, smart phones, social media, and other cool gadgets and apps. But all these have been made possible only over the past several decades through advances and innovations in semiconductor technology. The recent PBS documentary about “Silicon Valley” touches on the history of invention of the junction transistor, integrated circuits, and microprocessors. The documentary highlights pioneering giants such as William Shockley, Robert Noyce, and Gordon Moore. The video further explores formation of companies such as Fairchild, Intel, National (now Texas Instrument), AMD, etc. leading to an information technology revolution we are witnessing today. It is amazing to see how semiconductor technology and acceleration in the pace of innovation has affected human life to such an extent. The electronic industry, of course, existed before the invention of the transistor and will continue beyond the last silicon node and whatever technology replaces it. Whether “Silicon Valley” continues as the hotbed leading the forefront of technological innovations depends to a large extent on quality of our educational systems and how fast we develop a skilled and innovative workforce, and government policies that foster entrepreneurship. [June 2013]