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Silicon Forest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about an area in the northwestern United States. For the district in Novosibirsk, Russia, see Akademgorodok. For the Portland sculpture, see Silicon Forest (sculpture).

Intel's Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro, Oregon

Silicon Forest is a nickname for the Washington County cluster of high-tech companies located in the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon, and most frequently refers to the industrial corridor between Beaverton and Hillsboro in northwest Oregon.

The name is analogous to Silicon Valley. In the greater Portland area, these companies have traditionally specialized in hardware — specifically test-and-measurement equipment (Tektronix), computer chips (Intel and an array of smaller chip manufacturers), electronic displays (InFocus, Planar Systems and Pixelworks) and printers (Hewlett-Packard Co, Xerox and Epson). There is a small clean technology emphasis in the area.[1]

History[edit]

Mentor (A Siemens Business) headquarters in Wilsonville

Silicon Forest can refer to all the technology companies in Oregon,[2] but initially referred to Washington County on Portland’s west side. First used in a Japanese company’s press release dating to 1981, Lattice Semiconductor trademarked the term in 1984 but does not use the term in its marketing materials.[2] Lattice’s founder is sometimes mentioned as the person who came up with the term.[2]

The high-tech industry in the Portland area dates back to at least the 1940s, with Tektronix and Electro Scientific Industries as pioneers.[3] Tektronix and ESI both started out in Portland proper, but moved to Washington County in 1951 and 1962, respectively, and developed sites designed to attract other high-tech companies.[3] Floating Point Systems, co-founded by three former Tektronix employees in Beaverton in 1970, was the first spin-off company in Silicon Forest and the third (after Tek and ESI) to be traded on the NYSE.[4] These three companies, and later Intel, led to the creation of a number of other spin-offs and startups, some of which were remarkably successful. A 2003 dissertation on these spin-offs led to a poster depicting the genealogy of 894 Silicon Forest companies.[5] High-tech employment in the state reached a peak of almost 73,000 in 2001, but has never recovered from the dot-com bust. Statewide, tech employment totaled 57,000 in the spring of 2012.[6]

Unlike other regions with a "silicon" appellation, semiconductors truly are the heart of Oregon's tech industry.

Intel's headquarters remain in Santa Clara, California, but in the 1990s the company began moving its most advanced technical operations to Oregon. Its Ronler Acres campus eventually became its most advanced anywhere, and Oregon is now Intel's largest operating hub. In late 2012, Intel had close to 17,000 employees in Oregon—more than anywhere else the company operated;[7] by 2022, the number had grown to about 22,000.[8]

Companies and subsidiaries[edit]

The following is a sample of past and present notable companies in the Silicon Forest. They may have been founded in the Silicon Forest or have a major subsidiary there. A list of Portland tech startups (technology companies founded in Portland) is provided separately.

Current[edit]

Genentech facility in Hillsboro

Former[edit]

Former SolarWorld US headquarters in Hillsboro, which closed in 2017 and was later used by SunPower, until 2021

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Alpern, Peter (October 4, 2010). "Portland Cultivates Future as Hub for Manufacturing Alternative Energy". IndustryWeek. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Rogoway, Mike (April 9, 2006). Bizz blog: Silicon Forest. The Oregonian.
  3. ^ a b Manaton, Michael E. (August 4, 1994). "Tektronix began 'Silicon Forest' boom". The Oregonian (MetroWest edition).
  4. ^ G.B. Dodds, C.E. Wollner & M.M. Lee, The Silicon Forest, Oregon Historical Society Press, 1990, pp. 46-55.
  5. ^ . Portland State University: The Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  6. ^ . The Oregonian.
  7. ^ . The Oregonian.
  8. ^
  9. ^
  10. ^ . The Oregonian. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c d (PDF). The Oregonian. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
  12. ^
  13. ^ About Epson Portland Inc. Archived October 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Epson Portland Inc. Retrieved on October 8, 2007.
  14. ^
  15. ^
  16. ^
  17. ^ a b The Oregonian. p. 9.
  18. ^ Suh, Elizabeth (October 28, 2007). "Intel's impact on community helps other businesses thrive". The Oregonian.
  19. ^ . OregonLive.
  20. ^ . The Oregonian.
  21. ^
  22. ^ . The Oregonian.
  23. ^ . The Oregonian. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  24. ^ . The Oregonian. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  25. ^ . The Oregonian. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
  26. ^
  27. ^
  28. ^ . SiliconANGLE. May 2, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  29. ^
  30. ^ [permanent dead link]
  31. ^
  32. ^
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  34. ^
  35. ^ Venture Capitalists loosen purse strings for startups Portland Business Journal. Retrieved on July 23, 2010
  36. ^ . The Oregonian.
  37. ^
  38. ^
  39. ^ a b Read, Richard (March 7, 2004). "Racing the world". The Oregonian.
  40. ^ . The Oregonian.
  41. ^
  42. ^ a b
  43. ^

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Silicon Forest.
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