silicon-valley

Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce independently invented the integrated circuit in 1958–59. Here's how a germanium sliver and a silicon wafer changed everything.

How the Altair 8800, Apple I, and IBM PC turned computing from an institution's tool into a personal one — and why IBM's open architecture was its biggest strategic blunder.

How three physicists at Bell Labs in 1947 built a device smaller than a paperclip that would become the foundation of every computer ever made.

The United States attracts over $150 billion in venture capital annually — more than the rest of the world combined. China is a distant second. Israel is the world's highest VC-to-GDP ratio nation. Here's the full venture capital ranking — and why the geography of startup funding determines where tomorrow's industries are built.