Siliconia

VALLEY OF SILICON
Image © 1998 by CobraBoy!
<tbyars@earthlink.net>
Full-size version (56K) Here is the definitive collection of Siliconia on the Web. Siliconia are appropriations of names beginning with "Silicon" by areas outside Silicon Valley. A Siliconium can be promoted by local boosters or it can be assigned to an area in a press account. An ideal Siliconium will capture something unique about the regional character and when first encountered will bring a fleeting smile.

Siliconia inspired and is linked from a two-page spread in the September 1998 issue of Wired (pp. 136-137).
The first lawsuit is threatened over Siliconia continues to sputter along. Read about it here and here.

Siliconia was featured in Upside and the San Jose Mercury News, surveyed in Compuerworld, spotlighted on The Site, covered in Upside, (again), cited in the New York Times, and named to The Tech 10 for March 1997. (Download footprint is 194K.) ===>

2001-06-24 Dot Bowl
2000-06-01 Cyberabad, Silicon Parkway 2
2000-05-31 Digital Rhine, DSP Valley, E-Country,
Flanders Language Valley, Silicon Saxony,
Silicon Spires, Silicon Village 2, Silicon Vineyard 2
2000-05-02 Bit Valley
1999-11-21 Silicon Valley Forge, Philicon Valley
1999-10-21 The Dot Commonwealth
1999-09-29 Automation Alley
1999-05-08 e-Coast
1999-04-21 Silicon Alps

Current count: 79 Siliconia associated with 105 locations

Automation Alley Billy-can Valley Biotech Beach Bit Valley

Cwm Silicon Cyberabad Cyberchella Valley CyberDistrict

Digital Coast Digital Rhine Dot Bowl Dot Commonwealth

DSP Valley e-Coast E-Country Flanders Language Valley

India's Silicon Valley Intelligent Island Kiselsta Media Del Rey

Multimedia Gulch Multimedia Super Corridor Philicon Valley Silicon Alps

Silicon Alley Silicon Bayou 2 Silicon Beach 2 Silicon Bog

Silicon City Silicon Desert Silicon Ditch Silicon Dominion

Silicon Fen Silicon Forest 2 Silicon Forest Australia Silicon Freeway

Silicon Glacier Silicon Glen Silicon Gulch 2 Silicon Hill

Silicon Hills Silicon Holler Silicon Hollow Silicon Island 5

Silicon Isle Silicon Mesa Silicon Mountain 3 Silicon Necklace

Silicon Orchard Silicon Parkway 2 Silicon Plain Silicon Plains 2

Silicon Plantation Silicon Plateau Silicon Polder Silicon Prairie 10

Silicon Rain Forest Silicon River Silicon Sandbar Silicon Saxony

Silicon Seaboard Silicon Snowbank Silicon Spires Silicon Swamp 2

Silicon Triangle Silicon Tundra 2 Silicon Valais Silicon Valley Forge

Silicon Valley North Silicon Valley of the East Silicon Village 2 Silicon Vineyard 2

Silicon Wadi Silicorn Valley Teknopolis Telecom Beach

Telecom Corridor Telecom Valley 3 WebPort

I started this page in October 1995 based on a brief TBTF newsletter article listing seven Siliconia. At first this collection was in the spirit of fun, because no-one took these Silicon Valley wannabe monikers at all seriously.
But beginning late in 1997, regions struggling to get into the Siliconia game, years late, began to make more of a media fuss about it. Portland's WebPort, Boston's Cyber District, and Los Angeles' Digital Coast all launched with press releases, Web sites, and steering committees. Good luck, fellas; the pond is already plenty crowded. San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch sponsored a two-day bash to promote itself in the increasingly competitive Siliconia market.
Since early in 1997 we have begun to see the appearance of Siliconia that do not include the word "Silicon." I count Multimedia Gulch and Media Del Rey (for example) as Siliconia because the impetus for such nicknames is arguably the same as that for the original Siliconia.
In the last year the trend of shunning "silicon" has picked up, as new areas pursue the branding but strive to avoid the original cliche.
Can you supply citations to pin down the earliest uses of these Siliconia? Heard any others? Send to .

For a rich site covering all aspects of the original Silicon Valley, the computer industry, and the San Francisco Bay Area, visit the Silicon Valley Web Directory.

Warming up

First, to whet the appetite, some comments from Guy Kawasaki's Computer Curmudgeon. These don't rank as serious Siliconia; Kawasaki is just being cute.

Silicon Forest. Bill Gates's backyard.
Silicon Tubes. The place American chip manufacturers tell Congress they are going down unless there are get trade barriers.
Silicon Plains. Fargo, North Dakota, the home of Great Plains Software. (Prior to Great Plains, the most exciting thing in Fargo was $5 blackjack at the Holiday Inn.)
Silicon Valley. An area in California where "leverage" is a verb and "desktop" is an adjective.

Proceed to the Siliconia

[ Go to Siliconia TOC | A -- Silicon F | Silicon G -- Silicon O | Silicon P -- Z ]


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Most recently updated 2001-06-24

Automation Alley	Billy-can Valley	Biotech Beach	Bit Valley
Cwm Silicon	Cyberabad	Cyberchella Valley	CyberDistrict
Digital Coast	Digital Rhine	Dot Bowl	Dot Commonwealth
DSP Valley	e-Coast	E-Country	Flanders Language Valley
India's Silicon Valley	Intelligent Island	Kiselsta	Media Del Rey
Multimedia Gulch	Multimedia Super Corridor	Philicon Valley	Silicon Alps
Silicon Alley	Silicon Bayou 2	Silicon Beach 2	Silicon Bog
Silicon City	Silicon Desert	Silicon Ditch	Silicon Dominion
Silicon Fen	Silicon Forest 2	Silicon Forest Australia	Silicon Freeway
Silicon Glacier	Silicon Glen	Silicon Gulch 2	Silicon Hill
Silicon Hills	Silicon Holler	Silicon Hollow	Silicon Island 5
Silicon Isle	Silicon Mesa	Silicon Mountain 3	Silicon Necklace
Silicon Orchard	Silicon Parkway 2	Silicon Plain	Silicon Plains 2
Silicon Plantation	Silicon Plateau	Silicon Polder	Silicon Prairie 10
Silicon Rain Forest	Silicon River	Silicon Sandbar	Silicon Saxony
Silicon Seaboard	Silicon Snowbank	Silicon Spires	Silicon Swamp 2
Silicon Triangle	Silicon Tundra 2	Silicon Valais	Silicon Valley Forge
Silicon Valley North	Silicon Valley of the East	Silicon Village 2	Silicon Vineyard 2
Silicon Wadi	Silicorn Valley	Teknopolis	Telecom Beach
Telecom Corridor	Telecom Valley 3	WebPort