[ps747]

I think you're severely underestimating the impact of California's investment in education. UC Berkeley and Stanford (private, but accepts state research grants) are top institutions which had for decades attracted some of the brightest minds (professors and students) to the area. These people helped shape the field, from early work on the ARPANET and Operating Systems to the Big Data and AI innovations of today. The expertise is passed on to students which creates not only a highly talented labor pool, but also trains the next generation of innovators.

Considering this concentration of talent, I think it's no surprise that the Bay Area is a hub for innovation, and the impressive list of companies founded by Berkeley [1] and Stanford [2] alumni is a testament to this. The concentration of talent is the environment that attracts funding and VCs, and will ensure that the Bay Area will remain the place to be in tech.

And Seattle, your "perfect counterfactual", has University of Washington, another state-funded top institution.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_founded_by_U... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_founded_by_S...