PETALING JAYA: The Deloitte list of the 500 fastest growing companies in the Asia Pacific region saw the number of Malaysia companies increasing from 12 in 2003 to 28 this year.

According to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2004 programme, the average three-year revenue growth of these 28 companies was 389%, a more than twofold increase over last year's average of 183%.

For the first time, a Malaysian semiconductor design company made it to the top rankings: Malaysia Microelectronic Solutions Sdn Bhd (My-MS) raised its revenues by 6,008% over the last three years, the consulting firm said in a statement.

MyMS' remarkable growth in the last three years was due mainly to its focus on niche markets in the smartcard chip industry and its ability to develop highly optimised designs, Deloitte said.

It was also boosted by its latest wafer process technology and strong supply chain partners.

"Despite a difficult environment, Malaysia continues to have a very strong showing, with 28 companies making it to the list. This year, Malaysia represented 6% of the Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2004 list," said Deloitte KassimChan (www.deloitte.com.my) senior partner Robert Tan.

Software companies accounted for 50% (14 companies) of the 2004 Fast 500 Malaysia winners; followed by semiconductors, components and electronics companies, which represented 21% (or six companies); and communications companies with 7% (or four companies).

This representation was fairly consistent with that of 2003, Deloitte said.

Malaysian companies which made it to the top 100 list were 3ntity Bhd (No 34 with 827% growth), SnT Global Sdn Bhd (No 50 with 630% growth), REDtone Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (No 52 with 626% growth) and MoBIF Bhd (No 79 with 427% growth).

Both 3ntity and REDtone were previous winners.

The overall winner this year was Bill Express Ltd, which operates one of Australia's major electronic networks for product distribution, sales and payment. It achieved an incredible 56,303% revenue growth over a three-year period.

Taiwan's Dotcom Technology Co Ltd came in second with three-year revenue growth of 7,035%, while China's Fiberxon Technology (Shenzhen) Co Ltd achieved a three-year revenue growth of 5,696%. No 5 was Taiwan's Powertech Industrial Co Ltd, which recorded a three-year revenue increase of 3,872%.

"Companies from South Korea and China make up 40% of the rankings," said Ian Thatcher, Deloitte's Asia Pacific TMT lead partner and partner in charge of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Programme.

"The software industry continues to be the strongest sector for fostering fast-growing technology businesses. Asia Pacific continues to be a world leader in semiconductor, components and electronics, and these companies have doubled their representation compared with last year.

"It also reflects the fact that Asia Pacific technology leaders are back on track for success and hungry to attract talent and raise capital to fund future growth. There are grounds for real confidence going forward into 2005.

"The ghosts of the dotcom era appear to have finally been laid to rest," he added.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2004 programme is a ranking of the leading technology companies across the region based on percentage revenue growth over the last three years.