Silicon

 Valley:  a  production  space  integrated  at  local,  regional,  

national  and  international  scales.  
 
California  
Surface  area:  423  970  km2  
Population:  39.5  million  inhabitants  
Capital:  Sacramento  
GNP  per  inhabitant:  US$  70  000  
 
Situated  in  the  West  of  the  USA,  Silicon  Valley  is  a  high  tech  cluster  with  3  million  inhabitants  
located  to  the  south-­‐east  of  San  Francisco.  The  strong  relationship  between  businesses,  
financial  institutions,  engineers  and  students  has  created  an  innovative  metropolitan  
environment.  
 

Silicon  Valley  
 
Principal  businesses  in  
Silicon  Valley  
 
Principal  Universities  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Key  figures  for  Silicon  
Valley  
 
Inhabitants  
Employees  
Unemployment  rate  

 
A  new  geography  of  work  

Fine  architecture,  accommodation,  restaurants,  shops,  sports  halls,  banks,  green  spaces  of  
contemporary  art,  large  parks,  electric  buses,  bike  stations  ...  No,  it's  not  about  the  
amenities  of  a  city  centre,  but  the  new  headquarters  of  the  giants  of  technology.  Already  
known  for  their  huge,  ultramodern  campuses,  Apple,  Google,  and  Facebook,  the  three  
biggest  symbols  of  Silicon  Valley's  global  dominance,  are  moving  up  a  gear.  These  
companies,  respectively  the  first,  second  and  sixth  in  terms  of  world  stock  market  
valuations,  have  recently  expanded  or  will  soon  spread,  to  become  "cities  within  the  city".  
 
Visiting  the  headquarters  of  these  digital  companies,  located  a  few  dozen  kilometers  from  
one  another  in  the  heart  of  Silicon  Valley,  to  the  south  of  San  Francisco,  is  an  atypical  
experience.  Their  "campuses"  –  a  reference  to  the  huge  American  universities,  which  are  
both  places  of  life  and  work  -­‐  are  first  of  all  demonstrations  of  power…  
 
Thought  down  to  the  last  detail,  hyper  modern,  designed  by  renowned  architects,  the  
primary  function  of  these  majestic  headquarters  is  to  promote  well-­‐being  at  work  to  get  the  
best  -­‐  and  above  all  the  maximum  -­‐  of  employees.  Thus,  in  Mountain  View,  the  "Googleplex"  
of  more  than  20  hectares  where  more  than  10,000  employees  work,  the  model  worker  can  
practically  spend  his  life  in  a  closed  ecosystem.  Private  shuttles  bring  him  or  her  to  work  in  
the  morning.  A  daycare  centre  can  take  care  of  his  children.  He  eats  for  free,  from  morning  
to  evening,  in  several  organic  canteens  and  restaurants,  and  can  enjoy  all  the  services  he  
needs,  from  the  bank  to  the  pool,  through  to  the  doctor  and  pharmacy.  
 
Adapted  from  Sylvain  Roland,  ‘Google,  Facebook,  Apple:  when  business  become  a  town  
within  a  town,  La  Tribune,  26  June  2017  
 
The  Googleplex  
 

 
An  integrated  human  network  
 
What  makes  Silicon  Valley  different  from  other  clusters?  Silicon  Valley  is  an  ecosystem  of  
innovation  composed  of  complementary  and  interdependent  economic  actors.  Between  San  
Francisco  and  San  José,  there  are  well-­‐known  big  companies  [...  and]  other  actors,  
particularly  in  the  field  of  research:  the  Xerox  Park,  the  SRI  [Stanford  Research  Institute],  
major  universities  such  as  Stanford,  Berkeley  [...]      
 
But  two  actors  are  often  neglected.  The  lawyers,  first  of  all.  At  the  heart  of  the  business  
model  of  startups.  In  the  heart  of  Silicon  Valley,  at  Palo  Alto,  the  firm  Wilson  Sonsini  has  
1,500  lawyers  specializing  in  new  technologies.  [...]    
 
Nationality  networks  appear  very  quickly  when  one  examines  partnerships  or  funding.  
Chinese  and  Indians  make  up  more  than  50  percent  of  Silicon  Valley's  engineering  
population.  [...]  In  video  games,  as  at  Electronic  Arts,  one  comes  across  lot  of  French  people.  
The  second  major  type  of  network  consists  of  those  who  have  already  worked  together  [...]:  
former  colleagues,  former  partners,  who  already  know  each  other  and  can  rapidly  evaluate  
the  potential  of  a  proposed  partnership.  
 
These  networks  promote  the  flow  of  information,  access  to  resources  and  collaborations.  
Finally,  there  are  university-­‐related  networks.  Graduate  networks  of  Stanford,  Berkeley,  
Harvard  or  MIT  students    underpin  many  collaborations  and  groupings  of  entrepreneurs.  It  is  
not  uncommon  to  see  Stanford  students  initiate  a  collaboration  during  their  studies.  This  
was  the  case  for  David  Filo  and  Jerry  Yang  with  Yahoo!  and  Larry  Page  and  Serguei  Brin  with  
Google.  
Adapted  from  Michel  Ferrary,  ‘Silicon  Valley,  a  cluster  of  capital  risk  takers?,  
parisinnovationreview.com,  21  September  2017.  
 
 
 
The  power  of  GAFAM  
 
GAFAM  is  the  acronym  for  the  giants  of  the  Web,  Google,  Apple,  Facebook,  Amazon  and  
Microsoft.  [...]  The  development  of  these  five  Web  giants  is  part  of  the  digital  revolution  or  
the  third  industrial  revolution,  taking  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  twenty-­‐first  century.  Data  
is  their  raw  material.  [...]  GAFAM  has  a  lot  of  influence  in  the  Western  world.  In  2017,  
GAFAM  spent  a  record  $  50  million  in  lobbying  the  US  government.  In  Europe,  Microsoft  and  
Google  are  among  the  US  companies  that  spend  the  most  on  lobbying  the  European  
Commission.  Their  influence  is  more  limited  in  authoritarian  countries  where  networks  are  
controlled  by  the  state  [...].  The  amount  of  personal  information  collected  by  these  
companies  and  their  dominant  position  can  influence  the  policy  of  a  country  or  the  results  of  
research  in  the  case  of  Google,  which  may  downgrade  sites  deemed  negatively  by  
institutions  such  as  the  Ministry  of  Defense  of  the  United  States  
 
Adapted  from  Wikipedia  
 
The  mounting  power  of  BAT  
 
China  invented  gunpowder,  the  gang  of  Four  feels  targeted.  Google,  Apple,  Facebook,  
Amazon  -­‐  the  so-­‐called  Gafa  -­‐  are  not  alone  in  discovering  the  exasperation  that  their  almost  
totalitarian  practices  are  arousing  in  their  customers.  Behind  the  Great  Wall,  they  thought  
there  weren’t  any  challengers.  With  the  new  Chinese  dragons  Baidu,  Alibaba,  Tencent  -­‐  BAT  -­‐  
they  have  discovered  very  high  level  competitors  who  might  one  day  beat  them.  
 
Indeed,  their  stock  market  value  trends  and  activity  levels    are  growing  for  the  most  part  
faster  than  those  of  their  American  peers.  There  is  no  need  to  have  invented  the  compass,  
another  Chinese  discovery,  to  understand  that  these  curves  are  destined  to  intersect.  
 
They  have  already  started  to  do  so.  Last  November,  Tencent  joined  Facebook  on  the  stock  
market  and  surpassed  the  threshold  of  500  billion  dollars.  Alibaba  is  also  in  the  process  of  
joining  the  very  closed  club  of  five  groups  worth  more  than  500  billion  (Apple,  BAT  or  BATX:  
acronym  for  Chinese  companies  Baidu  (search  engine),  Alibaba  (virtual  commerce  platform  
as  Amazon),  Tancent  (email  account  provider)  and  Xiaomi  (phone  manufacturer),  Amazon,  
Google,  Microsoft  and  Tencent).  Facebook  has  been  kicked  out.  Of  course,  the  weight  of    
GAFA  still  remains  much  higher,  the  turnover  of  Amazon  equals  six  times  that  of  Alibaba,  
Google  enjoys  a  turnover  ten  times  that  of  Baidu,  but  the  trend  is  there.  "It's  about  time  that  
Silicon  Valley  becomes  paranoid,"  writes  "The  Economist."    
 
You  do  not  know  Tencent?  Every  day,  50  million  players  connect  to  its  "Honor  of  Kings"  
video  game,  and  it's  impossible  to  live,  pay,  play,  send  messages  in  China  without  its  WeChat  
application.  It  has  1  billion  users.  [...]  Alibaba,  in  addition  to  its  huge  e-­‐commerce  network,  
also  has  the  first  online  video  platform,  a  bank  (Ant  Financial),  and  a  payment  system  
(Alipay).  
Adapted  from  Sabine  Delanglade,  ‘The  shock  of  the  cyberpowers’,  Les  Echos,  3  April  2018  
 
A  supremacy  under  threat?