Most of the tech behemoths already have offices around the world.
Maybe these offices are just following the great standards set by the people working at the HQ.
Even then, there are a bunch of companies that have their engineering based in other countries.
I personally worked for a few companies that are major player in their fields (although not unicorns) that have offices here in the Greece.
Most of these companies have one thing in common, the leadership, everyone at the C level, work and live in the US. In fact, the companies I worked for had HQs in the SV.
I don't think SV has a significantly better talent pool.
My anecdote is that my local team has had more than a couple laughs looking at code written by our SV-based colleagues.
But I think that building your business there certainly gives you a huge advantage.
and I'm fair certain engineering won't be there in the future. Probably not even in the US. Just the research-y type stuff might stay here longer to be close to the universities. But assuming the market is left to its own development, ginormous US based engineering teams will likely go the way of the Dodo bird in the future.
I don't know if I can make an informed prediction, but even if I could I don't think I would be that extreme.
I would expect salaries to fall but I wouldn't expect software development to move entirely.
It should make sense for a lot of companies to pay a premium to keep their workforce closer to their leadership.
Maybe these offices are just following the great standards set by the people working at the HQ.
Even then, there are a bunch of companies that have their engineering based in other countries.
I personally worked for a few companies that are major player in their fields (although not unicorns) that have offices here in the Greece.
Most of these companies have one thing in common, the leadership, everyone at the C level, work and live in the US. In fact, the companies I worked for had HQs in the SV.
I don't think SV has a significantly better talent pool. My anecdote is that my local team has had more than a couple laughs looking at code written by our SV-based colleagues.
But I think that building your business there certainly gives you a huge advantage.
Your engineering doesn't need to be there.