Silicon Valley—today a global metonym for high‐technology entrepreneurship and innovation—emerged from a bucolic agricultural landscape into the epicenter of the digital revolution. This paper traces that transformation across four interwoven phases. First, we examine the region’s agrarian heritage as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” sustained by fruit orchards, dairy farms, and small‐scale canneries (Walker, 2004). Second, we analyze the foundational role of Stanford University and Santa Clara University in creating an academic‐industrial nexus that fostered early electronics research and technology transfer (Dennis, 2025; History Cooperative, 2025). Third, we document the birth of Silicon Valley’s semiconductor industry—from Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Mountain View to the “Traitorous Eight” at Fairchild Semiconductor—setting the stage for mass­-market transistors and integrated circuits (Freiberger & Swaine, 1984). Fourth, we chart the rise of venture capital, the dot­-com boom and bust, and subsequent waves of social media, mobile computing, and life sciences that have kept the region at the cutting edge (Kenney & Patton, 2012; Business Insider, 2020). In each phase, we highlight key actors, institutions, and policies that shaped Silicon Valley’s distinctive innovation ecosystem. Drawing on scholarly and archival sources, this paper illuminates how geographic endowments, academic leadership, corporate spin­-offs, and risk capital coalesced to forge a self-reinforcing cycle of entrepreneurial renewal. Finally, we reflect on the region’s global influence and consider lessons for other innovation clusters around the world.