Sunnyvale

Sunnyvale, city in Santa Clara County, northwestern California, near San Jose. The city is an important center for development and manufacture of defense, aerospace, computer, electronic, biotechnology, and telecommunications systems equipment.

Sunnyvale is at the heart of a swath of communities, dubbed Silicon Valley, that are engaged in high-technology research and manufacture. The Sunnyvale Center for Innovation, Invention and Ideas (SCI³) serves the Silicon Valley and the Pacific Rim with unique full on-line access to patent and trademark information. Onizuka Air Force Base, a satellite control center, is in the city. Ames Research Center and Moffett Federal Airfield, both operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), are adjacent to Sunnyvale.

The community was settled in 1849 by Martin Murphy and called Murphy’s Station (1864-1880) and Encinal (1880-1901). It was renamed Sunnyvale in 1901, and incorporated as a city in 1912 following an industrial expansion in the wake of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which prompted manufacturers to relocate to the Santa Clara Valley. But the city remained primarily an agricultural community until rapid growth began in the 1950s.

Sunnyvale covers a land area of 57 sq km (22 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 44 m (143 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 53.3 percent of the population, Asians 32.3 percent, blacks 2.2 percent, Native Americans 0.5 percent, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.3 percent. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 15.5 percent of the people. Population 106,618 (1980); 117,229 (1990); 131,760 (2000); 128,902 (2005 estimate).