Silicon Forest

This article is about an area in Northwestern United States. For the district in Novosibirsk, Russia, see Akademgorodok.

Intel's Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro

Silicon Forest is a nickname for the 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 and Pixelworks) and printers (Hewlett-Packard Co., Xerox and Epson). There is a small clean technology emphasis in the area.

File:SolarWorld-Hillsboro.jpg

SolarWorld US headquarters in Hillsboro.

History

Mentor Graphics headquarters in Wilsonville.

Silicon Forest can refer to all the technology companies in Oregon, 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. Lattice’s founder is sometimes mentioned as the person who came up with the term.

The high-tech industry in the Portland area dates back to at least the 1940s, with Tektronix and Electro Scientific Industries as pioneers. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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

Intel's headquarters remain in Santa Clara, Calif., 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. As of late 2012, Intel has close to 17,000 employees in Oregon—more than anywhere else the company operates.

Companies and subsidiaries

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.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Current

• Airbnb

• Act-On
• Ambric (acquired by Nethra Imaging in April 2009)
• Apple Inc. (Software Engineering in Vancouver, WA. This was previously the Claris products group)
• Arris Group (via acquisition of C-COR)
• Autodesk Inc
• Biotronik
• Brandlive
• Cambia Health Solutions (HealthSparq, Wellero, Hubbub, and SpendWell)
• Cascade Microtech
• CD Baby
• Cedexis
• Consumer Cellular
• Digimarc
• DiscoverOrg
• eBay
• Electro Scientific Industries
• Elemental
• EPSON
• Extensis
• Exterro
• FEI Company
• FLIR Systems
• ForgeRock
• GemStone Systems
• Genentech
• Google
• Grass Valley (company)
• Hewlett-Packard
• HoneyComb corporation
• IBM (by acquisition of Sequent)
• InFocus
• Intel
• Integra Telecom
• IP Fabrics
• Jama Software
• Janrain
• Jive Software
• Kryptiq Corporation
• LaCie
• Laika
• Lam Research (through merging with Novellus Systems)
• Lattice Semiconductor
• Linear Technology
• Maxim Integrated Products
• McAfee
• Mentor Graphics
• Mozilla
• New Relic (Engineering Headquarters)
• Nike, Inc. (Consumer Digital Division)
• Nvidia Corporation
• ON Semiconductor
• Oracle Corporation (by acquisition of Sun Microsystems)
• Panic Software
• Phoseon Technology
• Planar Systems
• Pop Art, Inc.
• Puppet Labs
• Qorvo
• RadiSys Corporation
• Rentrak
• Rockwell Collins
• Sage Software (by the acquisition of Timberline)
• Salesforce.com
• Sensory, Inc.
• Sharp Corporation
• Siltronic
• Site9, Inc.
• Shimadzu Corp.
• SolarWorld
• SurveyMonkey
• Synopsys
• Tektronix
• Tripwire
• Urban Airship
• VeriWave
• Vernier Software & Technology
• Viasystems (by the acquisition of Merix Corporation)
• WaferTech (TSMC subsidiary)
• Webtrends
• WebMD
• Welch Allyn
• Xerox
• XPLANE
• Yahoo!

Genentech facility in Hillsboro.

Former

• BiiN (defunct)
• Central Point Software (defunct)
• ClearEdge Power
• Etec Systems, Inc. (defunct)
• Floating Point Systems (defunct)
• Fujitsu (factory closed)
• MathStar (defunct)
• Merix Corporation (acquired by Viasystems)
• NEC (factory closed)
• Open Source Development Labs (defunct)
• Oregon Graduate Institute (merged with OHSU in 2001; Washington County campus closed in 2014)
• Sequent Computer Systems (defunct)

See also

• List of places with "Silicon" names

External links

• The Oregonian's Silicon Forest Blog
• Portland Tech portal at AboutUs.org
• Silicon Florist: Coverage of the web-based startup scene

• Rogoway, Mike (April 9, 2006). Bizz blog: Silicon Forest. The Oregonian.
• Manaton, Michael E. (August 4, 1994). "Tektronix began 'Silicon Forest' boom". The Oregonian (MetroWest edition).
• G.B. Dodds, C.E. Wollner & M.M. Lee, The Silicon Forest, Oregon Historical Society Press, 1990, p 46-55.
• About Epson Portland Inc. Epson Portland Inc. Retrieved on October 8, 2007.
• [1] Oregon Entrepreneurs Network
• Suh, Elizabeth (October 28, 2007). "Intel's impact on community helps other businesses thrive". The Oregonian.
• [2] The Oregonian, Retrieved on January 9, 2012
• [3] Sharp Laboratories of America
• [4] About Site9
• [5] Wall St. Daily. Retrieved November 12, 2011
• Venture Capitalists loosen purse strings for startups Portland Business Journal. Retrieved on July 23, 2010
• Yahoo! to open customer service center in Hillsboro. KATU. Retrieved on October 8, 2007.
• Read, Richard (March 7, 2004). "Racing the world". The Oregonian.