By Vivek Nanda, EE Times Asia EE Times Europe (07/13/2009 7:45 AM EST)

The Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region, according to Mason, recording about 10 percent of the group's $1.57 billion revenue and growing at 16.8 percent. RS, which started South Asia operations in 1995, now operates in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, and employs about 1,000 in the region.

Mason sees a continued migration of the electronics industry to the region in the face of the downturn. His company remains bullish on the Asia-Pacific due to the following:

" Major equipment manufacturers moving to the Asia-Pacific to be closer to customers here; " The region's important role in assembly and test of semiconductor devices; " Rapidly growing R&D in China; " Thousands of electronic design engineers graduating every year in Asia.

"We are very excited about the Asia-Pacific region," said Mason. "We are long-term investors here, and we've had a very successful growth here."

Major product and technology areas include "environmental space, such as wind power," the RS executive said. "Medical is doing very well, and aerospace/defense is a pretty good sector. There's quite a broad range of sectors and the good news for us is that we supply products to every industry."

RS Components has over the last few years stepped up its Web channel offering. Starting with the launch of its Website in 1998, the company gradually built up its e-commerce functionality. "About 40 percent of our sales are via e-commerce," said Mason. "And that's worldwide. In Japan, it is 70 percent."

Mason attributes the high e-commerce use to the fact that engineers tend to be Internet-savvy. And with a growing number of young engineers in Asia, he sees a growing importance of e-commerce.

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