Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Silicon Valley Can't Be Beat - T.J. Rodgers, Cypress Semiconductor Founder
T.J. Rodgers, an outspoken free markets advocate and founder of Cypress Semiconductor says many have tried, but none have succeeded in creating other Silicon Valleys around the world. The region's unique combination of talent, money and unconventional thinkers, he says, simply can't be replicated. Rogers has been a major force in the Valley for nearly 40 years and has lived through every tech trend.
About 20 years ago, Rodgers took a page from his venture capital friends and started an incubator for semiconductor start-ups at Cypress. All told, the San Jose, Calif.-based company has invested $600 million in nine start-ups that have a market cap of $3.6 billion today - most of which is from solar cell maker SunPower, which went public in 2005. Rodgers talked with Forbes.com about the history of innovation in the Valley and innovation in silicon chips - the technology that started it all and gave the region its name.
To the question "Will China or any other place ever rival the Valley?", he answers, "Not in my lifetime. You have to have multiple technologies interacting with each other, free market capital that's willing to take large risks, business acumen to start a company and, most of all, a culture that supports and respects those values." You can find more on the interview here.
This certainly got me thinking. Rogers is not the first to spell out the unique advantages present in the silicon valley ecosystem, but the innovation coming out of that environment is so huge that it is worth revisiting the concept.
For sure, there are other regions in the world where a lot of high-tech is happening. Well, within the US, there are other regions that do a lot of tech innovation stuff as well. Illinois, Washington...some of the brightest tech concepts have come from these regions. Israel is one country that has produced exceptional tech innovation per capita. Parts of Europe, Finland for instance
I wouldn't include China in this list, I doubt they have ever been known for innovative tech. Perhaps India, but even that country has had few breakthrough innovations coming out, most of what it has produced is a large "software factory", certainly not an innovation factory.
So well, there is competition - at least some - for Silicon Valley, but how strong is the competition? Let's analyze.
The other regions in the US - These probably have similar market situations to that of Silicon Valley, but what could be missing from these is the culture that supports companies that take risks in unknown technologies - some of which require a willing suspension of disbelief. At the end of the day, even the smartest bunch of bankers do not make a single visionary tech investor.
Parts of Europe - these have potential in terms of potential and talent, but I again doubt if they have the culture that supports such groundbreaking innovation. Finland and a couple of other Scandinavian countries appear to be one some of the few countries that has produced such genius (Linux, Nokia, Skype, Jaiku. These are markets that are close to London ( and hence money), and they are also part of the European Union - these two aspects give them some distinct market advantages. On balance, there appears to be potential in this region.
Israel - it has the genius and they have certainly proven themselves many times over when it comes to tech innovation, but their being so far away from any other tech cluster and their small size make it difficult for them to be a serious threat to silicon valley.
Japan - Japan has not done well when it comes to disruptive , especially software and Internet related (which was the last great Internet product / concept that came out of Japan? Hmm...I am really scratching my head!). Plus, anyway their corporate culture is miles away from the type of culture that can nurture groundbreaking innovation. I wouldn't even consider them to be in the contention.
China and India - have more been technology factories, not laboratories by any stretch of imagination. Their sizes certainly makes one thing a bit longer before dismissing them, but they are way, way behind in the race. There is really no chance of them catching up with Silicon Valley in the next decade or two.
So where does that leave the scorecard? This is my ranking, based on all the above aspects:
Silicon Valley - 10 / 10
Scandinavia - 4 / 10
Israel - 3 / 10
Japan - 0 / 10
India / China - Let me not bother ranking these
That's some competition for Silicon Valley, wouldn't you agree.
About 20 years ago, Rodgers took a page from his venture capital friends and started an incubator for semiconductor start-ups at Cypress. All told, the San Jose, Calif.-based company has invested $600 million in nine start-ups that have a market cap of $3.6 billion today - most of which is from solar cell maker SunPower, which went public in 2005. Rodgers talked with Forbes.com about the history of innovation in the Valley and innovation in silicon chips - the technology that started it all and gave the region its name.
To the question "Will China or any other place ever rival the Valley?", he answers, "Not in my lifetime. You have to have multiple technologies interacting with each other, free market capital that's willing to take large risks, business acumen to start a company and, most of all, a culture that supports and respects those values." You can find more on the interview here.
This certainly got me thinking. Rogers is not the first to spell out the unique advantages present in the silicon valley ecosystem, but the innovation coming out of that environment is so huge that it is worth revisiting the concept.
For sure, there are other regions in the world where a lot of high-tech is happening. Well, within the US, there are other regions that do a lot of tech innovation stuff as well. Illinois, Washington...some of the brightest tech concepts have come from these regions. Israel is one country that has produced exceptional tech innovation per capita. Parts of Europe, Finland for instance
I wouldn't include China in this list, I doubt they have ever been known for innovative tech. Perhaps India, but even that country has had few breakthrough innovations coming out, most of what it has produced is a large "software factory", certainly not an innovation factory.
So well, there is competition - at least some - for Silicon Valley, but how strong is the competition? Let's analyze.
The other regions in the US - These probably have similar market situations to that of Silicon Valley, but what could be missing from these is the culture that supports companies that take risks in unknown technologies - some of which require a willing suspension of disbelief. At the end of the day, even the smartest bunch of bankers do not make a single visionary tech investor.
Parts of Europe - these have potential in terms of potential and talent, but I again doubt if they have the culture that supports such groundbreaking innovation. Finland and a couple of other Scandinavian countries appear to be one some of the few countries that has produced such genius (Linux, Nokia, Skype, Jaiku. These are markets that are close to London ( and hence money), and they are also part of the European Union - these two aspects give them some distinct market advantages. On balance, there appears to be potential in this region.
Israel - it has the genius and they have certainly proven themselves many times over when it comes to tech innovation, but their being so far away from any other tech cluster and their small size make it difficult for them to be a serious threat to silicon valley.
Japan - Japan has not done well when it comes to disruptive , especially software and Internet related (which was the last great Internet product / concept that came out of Japan? Hmm...I am really scratching my head!). Plus, anyway their corporate culture is miles away from the type of culture that can nurture groundbreaking innovation. I wouldn't even consider them to be in the contention.
China and India - have more been technology factories, not laboratories by any stretch of imagination. Their sizes certainly makes one thing a bit longer before dismissing them, but they are way, way behind in the race. There is really no chance of them catching up with Silicon Valley in the next decade or two.
So where does that leave the scorecard? This is my ranking, based on all the above aspects:
Silicon Valley - 10 / 10
Scandinavia - 4 / 10
Israel - 3 / 10
Japan - 0 / 10
India / China - Let me not bother ranking these
That's some competition for Silicon Valley, wouldn't you agree.
Labels: Computer-Science
PermaLink - Silicon Valley Can't Be Beat - T.J. Rodgers, Cypress Semiconductor Founder posted by Ecacofonix : 8:18 AM
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