The Next Silicon Valley

Behind the Silicon Valley Exodus: Where Tech Companies are Going

Contributed Report

By Stacy Williams

Silicon Valley has been the capital of the global technology industry for decades. At present, Silicon Valley is a $2.8 trillion neighborhood because of tech giants like Google, Tesla, and Apple. However, the area has been experiencing an exodus with its best talent leaving, as many tech companies are packing up and leaving the Valley for better opportunities elsewhere.

Some of the biggest names in tech are joining this exodus as they clash with Silicon Valley’s changing culture. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, left San Francisco for Los Angeles to escape the groupthink and arrogance plaguing the community. Tech superstar Tim Ferris also departed because of a changing culture, disclosing that the people in the Valley tend to be unforgiving when it comes to individuals who do not subscribe to the same set of liberal beliefs as the rest. Many others relocated because of the painfully high cost of living owing to the high taxes and housing prices. In many ways, Silicon Valley is a victim of its success.

Given the rise of international tech hubs, Citylab believes that the next Silicon Valley may not even be in the United States. Other countries are catching up, and are slowly building their Silicon Valleys. Trailing behind the Bay Area in venture capital investments for startups are Beijing and Shanghai, with placements of $72 billion and $23 billion respectively since 2012. In 2017 we looked at how the Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI) and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras would receive $0.5 million per year in funding for research into areas like AI and deep learning. All of these are significant movements in the tech innovation landscape, and some people from Silicon Valley will likely end up abroad.

However, despite this international growth, the U.S. tech industry remains the biggest in the world. In a recent article, Tech Republic predicted how the tech industry would evolve from 2019 onwards. Many up and coming tech that will shape the future of the industry, such as AI algorithms, cloud platforms, and big data analytics, are still being developed in the U.S. As the global leader in developing cutting-edge technology, the U.S. demand for tech professionals is still on the rise. Maryville University’s industry outlook for software developers reports that tech-related jobs are still expected to grow by 17% by 2024. This is a clear indication of how the tech industry is proliferating and expanding across different parts of the U.S., rather than just one place.

In this article Marc Emmer lists the thriving tech hubs appearing in Seattle, Portland, Washington D.C., and Detroit. East Coast cities like New York have also seen a growth in startup funding, with $36 billion in venture capital startups since 2012. Los Angeles and Boston are also now being considered as ‘heavyweight hubs,’ owing to the number of companies that are developing state of the art and industry-defining technologies.

The development of multiple tech hubs in both big and small cities across the U.S. is quite notable. This trend only goes to show that while the Silicon Valley exodus may mean the U.S. tech landscape is changing, the demand for innovation and development in the field remains stronger than ever.

 

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