Silicon Valley, which is not an official name but used to differentiate The South Bay and Peninsula from San Francisco City and Oakland is situated in the southern San Francisco Bay Area of California. It is home to many start-up and global technology companies. Apple, Facebook and Google are among the most prominent. It’s also the site of technology-focused institutions centered around Palo Alto's Stanford University. The Computer History Museum and NASA’s Ames Research Center are in Mountain View. The Tech Museum of Innovation is in San Jose.