It basically all derives from Fairchild Semiconductor, which only existed (as did its fairchildren, the companies spawned off it like Intel, AMD, National Semi,

It basically all derives from Fairchild Semiconductor, which only existed (as did its fairchildren, the companies spawned off it like Intel, AMD, National Semi, etc) because non competes have been unenforceable since 1941. Texas Instruments was also heavily bankrolled by the military and NASA, just like Fairchild. The godfather of venture capital in America is Don Valentine, who founded Sequoia Partners in 1972 - after working for Fairchild and National Semi. There are other places that have good universities and access to capital, like New York City and Boston. Plenty of government spending has gone to tech companies there too. They have noncompetes, we do not. They certainly have their successes, but not to the same degree as Silicon Valley.