Back in 2002, New York-listed Benchmark Electronics Inc. paid $45 million for the Thailand and U.K. operations of an American competitor. Today, Benchmark’s Thailand unit accounts for one-fifth of the company’s $2.3 billion global revenues after morphing into a manufacturer of such sophisticated, high value-added products as surgical lasers, defibrillators and optical sensing technology for electric vehicles.

“The Thai acquisition was an excellent decision,” Mr Ronald Rocha, Benchmark’s Asia Vice President for Electrical Manufacturing Systems, said at the unit’s headquarters in the appropriately named Hi-Tech Industrial Estate north of Bangkok. “In the past, companies would go to countries like Thailand just to reduce cost. We are here because of capability, technology and quality as well as the low-cost advantage. The government is industry friendly, there is a high emphasis on education and the workforce is very stable. Growth for us has been nonstop.”