Seoul: Talk of the global economic recovery fizzling doesn't faze Cho Byung-cheol, president of a small South Korean technology company that has already set up a branch in China and plans one soon in the United States.

The company, which designs and makes semiconductor-based high-speed data storage and processing equipment, is planning to boost its South Korean workforce of nearly 60 by half, says Cho, who founded Seoul-based Taejin Infotech Co in 1996. Sales, which totalled only 8.4 billion won (Dh25 million) last year, could swell fourfold this year and reach 100 billion won next year, he predicts.

Sitting in his spacious, well-ordered office, Cho's confidence belies the grim mood that has settled over global stock markets in the past month as indicators from the US to Japan show the economic rebound is running out of juice.

Stimulus

Asia's big corporate names from Toyota to Singapore Airlines to Samsung Electronics have ridden a wave of recovery from the world's worst downturn in decades as emerging powerhouses China and India spruced demand with massive injections of government stimulus.

Now, with interest rates rising, government spending programmes winding down, the US recovery looking shaky and debt problems lingering over Europe, there are doubts whether Asia, still reliant on exports for growth, can sustain its momentum.

Maintaining the current torrid pace of growth appears unlikely. China's economy grew 10.3 per cent in the second quarter, albeit slowing from an even more blistering rate in the first. Singapore surged 19.3 per cent, its best result since the country began releasing quarterly growth figures in 1975. And South Korea expanded 7.6 per cent in the first half of this year, its best performance in 10 years.

Even Cho, counting on an explosion in demand for his company's products driven by expanding use of smartphones and cloud computing, expects the global economy to hit rough waters over the next six months to a year. "But as a broad trend, I expect it, including my company, to grow," he says.

Not many are predicting a setback for Asia as serious as last year's recession. The Asian Development Bank estimated that the financial crisis added 60 million people in developing Asia to the ranks of those already trapped in extreme poverty.

Yet the optimism has caveats. They include how bad things get in the United States, to what extent China can continue to pick up the slack and whether governments can put in place safety net policies that will convince their people to save less and spend more to make up for weak demand from advanced economies.

"I think clearly we're going to move into a slower period here," said Bill Belchere, global chief economist for Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong. A key factor will be "how deep and how intense is the global slowdown," he said.

No region benefited more than Asia from the coordinated effort to revive the world economy after the global financial system went on life support following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings in September 2008.

Spurring demand

Central banks worldwide slashed borrowing costs and governments crafted massive stimulus programs to breathe life back into finance and commerce. The moves are credited with shoring up the global economy and helped spur demand for Asian companies.

A glance at some big name earnings reports tells the story. In South Korea, second-quarter net profit at Samsung Electronics Co and Hyundai Motor Co rose to record highs for the second straight three-month period.

In Japan, electronics giants Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp returned to profitability after booking losses the year before and both raised full-year profit forecasts amid a strengthening yen.

Worries centre on the United States, which slowed in the second quarter to a revised 1.6 per cent annual pace, down from the initial 2.4 per cent estimate.

Asian companies, appear optimistic in the face of signs the US recovery is grinding to a near halt.