Skype CEO Josh Silverman announces today in a blog post that Skype is coming to Silicon Valley. My town of Palo Alto will be their location of their new Silicon Valley office.

According to Skype, the operations will be in Palo Alto at Stanford University where Skype signed a lease for 90,000 square foot facility.

This is big for Skype in that they are going to compete for top talent in the area with Facebook, Google, and every other startup in the Valley. More importantly, this puts Skype back in the US game when it comes to access to intellectual capital and developers. Just this past month Skype launched SkypeKit a developer package to get new applications flowing in the market.

I wrote back in January that Skype has a big chance to own the social web. They have massive installed base and are under pressure from Google and possibly Facebook. Skype was the real first company to be first with video in a big way, and now they need to turn up the heat on more product releases which they are doing by building a multi-tasking iOS 4 compatible version of its app for the iPhone. SkypeKit can be Skype’s Android if they get some lift with real developers building applications that create value. Skype certainly has what developers want in a critical mass of users. All Skype needs to do is show the developer that they can provide profits and monetization.

Skype also will be close to Marc Andreeseen and Silver Lake Partners, their main investors. I think that this is a smart move for Skype. They already have offices with light weight presence in California, but this move to Stanford makes a statement – Skype wants to compete on innovation and new products.

Skype is enabling the creativity of others to increase the utility of voice and more compelling – video. It’s a great move by Skype to get both hardware and software developers cranking up new capabilities.

Skype Is About Video – Skype Is Consumer Internet Video

Many are talking about Skype as voice provider. Yes, Skype is rolling up the voice market as a viable alternative to big overpriced telcos around the world, but lets not forget the killer app in today’s and future Internet – VIDEO!!

Skype owns consumer Internet video right now, and the only way for them to compete with market forces like Apple and carriers is to open up the developer channel fast. This is Skype’s move and it’s very smart.

Skype Has Big Numbers
Skype beat all the big players with video for the consumer Internet market (PCs and mobile). Look at the scoreboard: Google, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, HP, even the Tiffany of video – Cisco.

Skype can possibly be one of the biggest cloud players if they can sequence their leadership in their client to other emerging markets like video and social. I like the idea that Skype TV can compete against Cisco. With SkypeKit for developers Skype needs to be pushing hard for these new devices especially since Cisco and HP are moving fast with their tablet opportunities – lets not forget the 800lb gorillas Apple and Google.

Skype TV is a killer application and that product alone is a complete game changer. Skype could bring telepresence to everyone not just “wealthy enterprise” CEOs.

Here is Josh’s post on their expansion in Silicon Valley

Today, I’m pleased to announce that Skype will expand its operations in Silicon Valley, and has just signed a lease with Stanford University for a 90,000 square foot office space in the Stanford Research Park at 3210 Porter Drive in Palo Alto, CA. Silicon Valley will add to Skype’s excellent engineering team in Estonia, Prague and Stockholm, and will also become the home of regional marketing, business development, and the Skype for Business team.

Making this move is an exciting step for us. Skype’s Silicon Valley offices are currently in San Jose and Brisbane, where approximately 80 employees work today. The plans are to relocate our Silicon Valley teams to the new Palo Alto space as early as October 2010. And, we hope to attract some of the best and brightest talent in the Valley, especially engineers who are skilled at building ultra-scalable infrastructure.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Silicon Valley jobs, go here.