Editing Silicon Forest (section)

== History ==
[[File:Mentor Graphics entrance.JPG|thumb|Mentor (A [[Siemens]] Business) headquarters in [[Wilsonville, Oregon|Wilsonville]]]]
Silicon Forest can refer to all the technology companies in Oregon,<ref name=name>Rogoway, Mike (April 9, 2006). Bizz blog: Silicon Forest. ''[[The Oregonian]]''.</ref> but initially referred to [[Washington County, Oregon|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.<ref name=name/> Lattice’s founder is sometimes mentioned as the person who came up with the term.<ref name=name/>

The high-tech industry in the Portland area dates back to at least the 1940s, with [[Tektronix]] and [[Electro Scientific Industries]] as pioneers.<ref name="Oreg1994">Manaton, Michael E. (August 4, 1994). "Tektronix began 'Silicon Forest' boom". ''[[The Oregonian]]'' (MetroWest edition).</ref> 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.<ref name="Oreg1994"/> [[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]].<ref>G.B. Dodds, C.E. Wollner & M.M. Lee, ''The Silicon Forest'', Oregon Historical Society Press, 1990, pp. 46-55.</ref> These three companies, and later [[Intel]], led to the creation of a number of other [[Corporate spin-off|spin-off]]s and [[Startup company|startup]]s, 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.<ref name=PSU>{{cite web |url=http://www.pdx.edu/ims/silicon-forest-universe |title=Silicon Forest Universe |publisher= [[Portland State University]]: The Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies |access-date= June 28, 2010}}</ref> High-tech employment in the state reached a peak of almost 73,000 in 2001, but has never recovered from the [[dot-com bubble|dot-com bust]]. Statewide, tech employment totaled 57,000 in the spring of 2012.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2012/07/investment_in_oregon_tech_comp.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Investment in Oregon tech companies heats up, but employment hasn't bounced back | date=July 26, 2012 |last=Rogoway |first=Mike}}</ref>

Unlike other regions with a "silicon" appellation, [[Semiconductor device fabrication|semiconductors]] truly are the heart of Oregon's tech industry.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

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;<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2012/10/intel_makes_a_bet_on_oregon_an.html | work=The Oregonian | date=October 25, 2012 |title=Intel makes a bet on the future, and Oregon, with massive Hillsboro expansion |last=Rogoway|first=Mike}}</ref> by 2022, the number had grown to about 22,000.<ref name="OPB-Intel-2022">{{cite web |last1=Davidson |first1=Kate |title=Oregon's largest private employer, Intel, announces plans to expand in Europe |url=https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/15/intel-expands-europe-plans-build-fab-facilities-diversify-chip-industry/ |publisher=[[OPB]] |access-date=March 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316162157/https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/15/intel-expands-europe-plans-build-fab-facilities-diversify-chip-industry/ |archive-date=March 16, 2022 |date=March 15, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>