Innovation Rising
Driven by deregulation and domestic demand, Asian companies are challenging the U.S. and Europe in technology development and innovation
For many investors, the words "Asia" and "technology" together still conjure up images of assembly lines cranking out cheap, generic PCs for export, or stamping out parts in one country to be plugged into products in another. Japan's dominance in consumer electronics notwithstanding, Asian countries have historically been perceived as the low-cost producers of technology that originated in Silicon Valley or elsewhere in the Western world.
A new century, however, has brought a new reality. Exports still figure prominently in Asia's economies—China surpassed the U.S. last year as the world's leading technology exporter. Today, however, growing domestic consumer demand is one of the key drivers behind a wave of technology development in Asia.
