That’s nice in theory and likely a factor over some areas. The primary differentiator is a culture of local access to VC funding. It explains both the timeline and geographic distribution.
It happened simultaneously, they required eachother in lockstep.
Shockley was the spark that set SV on fire (not HP). By chance he ended up in the SV area, moving from New Jersey to Mountain View because his ill mother lived in Palo Alto. Beckman Instruments provided the capital for Shockley to start his company, which led to Fairchild (also formed by outside capital) and off it went.
Those companies would not have existed without the venture capital that made them possible. Shockley was not going to bootstrap his company, and the traitorous eight were similarly not going to leave without significant financial support courtesy of Fairchild Camera.
That's all different in character from modern VC in the valley though. People were not forming firms with the intention of seeking out tech startup investments in a systematic way like they do today. A unique culture has emerged since then.
When the traitorous eight left Shockley, what they did would have been career suicide on the east coast. Now it is encouraged in Silicon Valley corporate culture.
