Which Tech Hub Will Become The Next Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley has been the undisputed tech capital of the world for several years now, but there are several up-and-coming areas that are making noise around the tech and startup world.

You may have heard it before: if you want to work with the latest and greatest in technology or build your own startup, get to Silicon Valley. With some of the world’s tech giants being located in the southern San Francisco Bay area known as Silicon Valley, it’s easy to believe the hype.
We can’t ignore the innovation that has come out of Northern California. Google, Apple, Facebook and Adobe are all based out of Silicon Valley, along with thousands of other thriving tech companies. It’s not surprising that Y Combinator, the world’s most successful commercial seed accelerator, is also located in the heart of Silicon valley. So yes, we can agree that Northern California is currently the tech capital of the world.
But what about other areas that are attracting some of the brightest tech and startup talent? We took a closer look at 3 up-and-coming tech hubs that could give Silicon Valley a run for its money:
Austin, Texas
Austin has recently shown up on the radar as an emerging tech hub. Ask anyone who has lived in or even just visited Austin and they’ll love telling you all about the amazing city. From the diverse music scene to the steep climb in employment, millennials and experienced business people alike are flocking to Austin, Texas.
The Texas city experienced a 41.4% jump in tech-industry employment between 2001 and 2013. It helps that Dell is based out of Austin, but thousands of other startups are finding their home deep within Texas country, causing the huge increase in tech jobs. Tech-related jobs continue to pop up all over the city with not enough talented candidates to fill the holes.
But don’t go spreading it too widely that Austin, Texas is a tech startup haven. The locals like how their city functions and most would agree that increasing the cost of living to Silicon Valley levels is certainly not the goal.
Notable companies in Austin:

• Dell (HQ)
• Oracle
• IBM

Provo, Utah
Where? Yes, Provo, the city 45 miles south of Salt Lake has absolutely exploded in the tech industry over the last few years. It was recently recognized by Inc. as the 3rd most up-and-coming city for tech jobs, while also being featured in Forbes and The New Yorker as “The Next Silicon Valley”.
Provo attracts strong tech talent from all over the world, but much of it comes from right next door at Brigham Young University. The school has one of the highest-ranking business programs in the country, while also producing talented candidates for tech jobs from the IT and Computer Science programs.
For its small population of only 116,288, Provo boasts more private venture-funded companies per capita valued at over $2 billion than anywhere else in the world.
Note: WestHost is located just two hours north of the promising Provo area!
Notable companies in Provo:

• Qualtrics (HQ)
• Domo (HQ)
• Adobe

Raleigh, North Carolina
The capital city of North Carolina continues to grow as a tech hub, situated on the east coast of the United States. Drawing in tech talent from the strong North Carolina State University Engineering program continues to drive Raleigh to the top.
Raleigh is near the “Triangle”, which is a thriving research area that’s home to several large startup meetings and events such as Stacked, Triangle DevOps and Triangle.rb. This has strengthened the startup community around Raleigh, while also attracting tech enthusiasts to get their start near the Triangle.
Raleigh is located in a prime location geographically, is only a short distance from several top-tier universities, and thrives off of tech startups and tech giants. Check out American Underground to learn more about the “startup hub of the south”.
Notable companies in Raleigh:

• Red Hat (HQ)
• Cisco
• IBM

Will any of these three cities eventually rise to the level of Silicon Valley? Will a different emerging tech hub such as Boulder, Colorado or Hartford, Connecticut boost its way past the Bay Area? There’s no real way of knowing, but the reassuring fact is that even if Silicon Valley remains at the top, there are many other tech hubs to suit young developers and startup-crazed entrepreneurs.

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