Asia Pacific technology firms are experiencing their highest growth rates yet and CEOs are confident that of mainting the same growth rates over the next 12 months, according to Deloitte's 2007 Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Ranking and CEO Survey, released December 6.

More than 280 participants from more than 180 companies representing 10 locations across Asia Pacific attended this year’s Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific awards ceremony. The event, now in its sixth year, was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Hong Kong. The awards ceremony included a first-ever panel discussion featuring winning company CEOs. Tailored for the C-suite of the winning companies, the interviews addressed a series of key industry-specific topics.

Additional speakers at this year’s event were:

Igal Brightman, global managing partner, Technology Media and Telecommunications
Damien Tampling, partner, Corporate Finance Pty. Ltd., Deloitte Australia
Chaly Mah, CEO, Deloitte Asia Pacific
Charles Yen, TMT national leader, China
Parag Saigaonkar, managing director, Deloitte Consulting Off-shore Technology Group, Mumbai.

About the winners 
Average growth rates across all 500 ranked firms are at the highest point since the program began in 2002, at 540 percent. Growth rates of the top five firms have more than doubled since 2006. The top five winners were:

View the top 20 winners and download the full report.

Sector distribution of the Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2007 was as follows:

• Software (129 companies)
• Semiconductor, components & clectronics (120 companies)
• Communications/Networking (83 companies)
• Internet (77 companies)
• Other (45 companies)
• Biotech/Pharmaceutical (17 companies)
• Computers/Peripherals (16 companies)
• Instrumentation (7 companies)
• Medical Equipment (6 companies)

Business locations of the Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2007 ranked companies were as follows:

• Taiwan (99)
• India (82)
• South Korea (82)
• Japan (63)
• Australia (62)
• China (53)
• New Zealand (38)
• Malaysia (17)
• Singapore (3)
• Thailand (1)

CEO Survey highlights
237 CEOs from the 500 winning companies were interviewed to find out how they are maintaining high levels of growth in today’s economy. They were also asked about the key drivers of growth, their hopes and fears and what they feel are their key responsibilities as CEO.

The four key findings that stood out most this year were:

• CEO confidence is at its highest ever
  Almost 91 percent of this year’s CEOs were extremely or very confident of managing the same growth rates over the next 12 months, which is the highest level in six years.
• Offshoring of key functions is on the rise
  While 18.5 percent of firms currently employ over 15 percent of their workforce abroad, Asia Pacific CEOs see this figure tripling within five years—a significant structural challenge, driven by a mixture of a desire to be seen as a global company (53.3 percent), cost savings (20 percent) and shortage of skills at home (12.7 percent).
• Skilled people are proving harder to find and retain
  The most widely feared threat (for 31 percent of CEOs) is increased labor costs and/or lack of access to skilled labor. Finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees is the greatest operational challenge for just over half of CEOs—significantly up on previous years.
• Embracing green initiatives
  Where the environment is concerned, 78.3 percent of Asia Pacific CEOs are concerned about doing the right thing. They are contributing most of their “green” initiative to energy conservation (40 percent) and waste reduction (33 percent).

Media coverage
Mr. Brightman, was interviewed on Bloomberg regarding the CEO Survey, followed by a live interview with CNBC, on the day of the event. As with his recent CNBC “Squawk Box” interview in Europe, the interview highlighted the results of the program as well as achievements of DTT’s Global TMT industry group.

Further media coverage included:

• Filming of the award ceremony by TVB jade
• Financial Times interview with Igal Brightman
• Cable TV interview with Thomas Chung, group Audit partner and
• TMT leader southern China
• SCMP interview of Charles Yen, national managing partner

The Asia Pacific awards ceremony follows the EMEA Technology Fast 500, which was held in London in late November.

For further information about the Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 program, email Fast500AsiaPacific@deloitte.com.