Hardware makes resurgence in Silicon Valley

Hardware start-ups are a growing presence in Silicon Valley as the barriers to entry for prototyping gadgets is falling, drawing more device innovators to the neighborhood, the New York Times reports.

The shift from the focus on dot-com services and software could mark a return to the region’s earlier reputation in the 1930s as a center for electronics hardware design.

One reason for the growing number of hardware-focused companies is that designers can now do rapid prototyping with 3-D printers, machines that make solid objects based on a digital file, without requiring assembly line manufacturing. Hardware is now more tightly knit with software than before, prompting designers of devices to set up shop amid the hordes of developer firms in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley companies with a hardware slant that have received funding from CIA venture capital wing In-Q-Tel include hearing aid maker Sonitus Medical, which is developing a communications device that fits in a person’s mouth, and biotech firm Fluidigm, which makes microchips that analyze genetic samples.

A growing sign of hardware’s ascent in the area was the recent acquisition of Lime Lab, a San Francisco-based design consultancy, by PCH International, an Irish hardware accessory maker, the Times report highlighted.

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