Northern California, home to Silicon Valley, is one of the larger data center markets in the country. Most companies objectively evaluating the market for expansion should be deterred by the area's expensive real estate, power costs, and risk of earthquakes. Despite these facts, consistent activity from large data center users and colocation/cloud operators over the last five years is the prime catalyst for the market's size. Growth in the Northern California data center market has occurred in several cities south of San Francisco, with Santa Clara being home to the majority. Employment from technology companies makes up 28% of total employment in the Silicon Valley metro area according to the 2024 Silicon Valley Index released by Silicon Valley's Institute for Regional Studies. While the Northern California data center market benefits greatly from tech sector growth, it also heavily depends on it—posing a risk should the sector decline. Other industries consistently active and adding to the data center growth in Northern California include telecom, healthcare, financial, and retail.