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Silicon Valley Last Among US tech hubs
By ST Team
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Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 19:30 IST
SAN FRANSICO: The Silicon Valley is losing its charm as its high cost of living is having an inverse proportion in its ranking among IT hubs. A latest survey released by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group showed the valley had ranked last as North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham area, which enjoys affordable housing and a thriving job market, took lead as the nation's top-ranked tech hub.
Coming dead last among the 12 US technology hubs, Silicon Valley is offering gloomy prospects as tech workers are finding it just too expensive there. Though it may still seem inviting to VC money, the region's infamously high housing costs, high unemployment rate, traffic congestion and other quality-of-life problems is creating an unfavorable picture.
Situated in California, Silicon Valley is broadly estimated to cover regions stretching between San Jose north to San Francisco and Berkeley, as well as corporate suburbs such as Cupertino and Palo Alto. The valley had so far maintained its status as numero uno among global tech hubs that dominated the technology and life sciences industries at the same time, placing it one rung above international tech hubs such as Basel, Switzerland; Bangalore, India; Prague; Dublin; Berlin; Tokyo; and Shanghai.
Coming in a respectable second is Seattle, home to thousands of well-paid technology professionals who work at Microsoft Corp. in suburban Redmond, Washington and Denver area garnered its status as No. 3 housing several startups in the emerging alternative-energy field.
Carl Guardino, President and CEO of the public policy trade association said that the results put to light the plight being faced by the tech workers at the Silicon Valley. "There are seemingly intractable challenges we know won't change over a week or a year," he said.
Though the ranking brought dismal news, the valley remained dominant in attracting venture capitalist. It is responsible for gathering nearly $8 billion (euro6.24 billion) per year in venture funding, four times more than its closest domestic rivals.