Stanford Research Park
Stanford Research Park is a technology park established in 1951 as a joint initiative between Stanford University and the City of Palo Alto. It was the world's first university research park. It has more than 150 companies, including Rivian, HP, Tesla, SAP and Broadcom; previous high-profile tenants include Steve Jobs's NeXT Computer, Xerox PARC, and Facebook. It has been called "an engine for Silicon Valley" and "the epicenter of Silicon Valley".
Facilities
The park covers a area and has 10 million square feet of commercial real estate in an area surrounding Page Mill Road, south west of El Camino Real and extending beyond Foothill Expressway to Arastradero Road. By January 2018, the park's 140 buildings house over 150 different companies and their 23,000 employees. It is currently home to companies like HP, Lockheed Martin, Rivian, Broadcom, and SAP. Tesla is the park's largest tenant as of December, 2025. In 2016, SRP contributed an estimated $775 million in terms of economic activity to Palo Alto and approximately $2.4 billion to Santa Clara County. In 2016, SRP contributed more than $45 million in taxes.History
After World War II, Stanford University found itself in difficult financial circumstances. But given that it was rich in land, Stanford University Provost and Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman proposed a Stanford-affiliated and R&D-focused business park that would generate income for Stanford as well as tax revenue for the Palo Alto community. Stanford University and the City of Palo Alto partnered to found the park, which was initially named Stanford Industrial Park. In 1951, the initiative was authorized and 209 acres were allocated. In 1953, Varian Associates moved in as the park's first tenant.In the early days, Stanford tightly controlled development, without the help of an outside developer. It also rigorously screened potential tenants to ensure they were in line with university objectives. By 1956, Hewlett-Packard established its world headquarters in SRP. The park acquired more land as it grew from 40 tenants in 1960 to 100 tenants in 1985 to over 150 by January 2018. The name was changed in the 1970s to Stanford Research Park to highlight "the focus of cooperation between the university and the tech companies". In 1991, the Stanford Management Company was established to manage the university's financial and real estate assets, including SRP.