He used it as the title of a series of articles `` Silicon Valley USA '' in a weekly trade newspaper Electronic News which started with the January 11 , 1971 issue . Its first published use is credited to Don Hoefler , a friend of Vaerst 's , who used the phrase as the title of a series of articles in the weekly trade newspaper Electronic News . The series , entitled `` Silicon Valley in the USA , '' began in the paper 's issue dated January 11 , 1971 .