By Being Like Silicon Valley Used To Be, East Asia Challenges It

2025-04-02 03:22:19

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Silicon Valley has been a universal symbol of innovation for decades. Because of its reputation, governments around the world have tried to foster their own versions by investing heavily in tech hubs.

These efforts, which include Silicon Beach in Los Angeles, Silicon Island in Malaysia and Silicon Roundabout in the UK, have not always worked . But some places, particularly parts of east Asia, have seen their own Silicon Valleys flourish.

China has the world's second-largest venture capital market, scores of startups and cutting-edge tech to challenge Silicon Valley. Japan and Korea have also become some of the most active corporate venture capital investors in the world.

At the same time, these challenger ecosystems possess some of the attributes of Silicon Valley in its heyday – more, in some ways, than Silicon Valley itself does these days.

The scale of Silicon Valley remains unparalleled, at least for now. In 2024, the region's market capitalization (the value of companies' publicly traded shares) had reached US$14.3 trillion. This is comparable to the entire GDP of China, the world's second-largest economy.

But Silicon Valley is no longer a counter-cultural world of startups in garages, where small, disruptive organizations build world-changing products on a shoestring. It has morphed into a land of Goliaths, not Davids.

Cups of instant noodles have, for many, been replaced by açaí bowls, and office all-nighters with wellbeing workshops and digital detox retreats . Stalwart investors, such as Sequoia's Mike Moritz, have complained that Silicon Valley tech workers have become “lazy and entitled.“

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