The end (of the recession) is nigh!
Silicon Valley appears to be picking itself up and dusting itself off after having been dealt a particularly hard blow by the global recession.
For many, the past year has felt more like living in Death Valley than Silicon Valley, but little by little, things are starting to pick up and even the US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke recently told a think-tank in Washington that: "from a technical perspective the recession is very likely over".
Despite the Valley's unemployment rate still resting at a record high of 11.9 per cent, confidence does seem to be creeping back, especially in terms of business acquisitions. Just recently, software giant Intuit shelled out $170 million (£102 million) for free personal financial planning software firm, Mint.com.
Likewise, Adobe invested $1.8 billion in buying online marketing and web analytics company Omniture, while VMware paid $420 million for Java development outfit, SpringSource and Skype has been partially snapped up by a private equity syndicate for $2 billion.
Also, it has been reported that people are actually starting to leave their jobs in established firms in order to sign up to start-ups, a sure sign of returning confidence. "Yes, we are moving beyond the recession and it's as expected," Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat, told HEXUS.
"The ones that had the cash to make it through are now capitalizing both on the development efforts they kept in place and the incredible opportunities offered by other companies," added McGregor, noting that these included companies like Intel and Qualcomm, as well as the larger foundries like TSMC and UMC.
