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The Tech 100

Wang Chuanfu. Don't know the name? Until a few years ago, neither did Charlie Munger, vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. When Munger checked out Wang's company, BYD, the Chinese maker of plug-in hybrid cars and rechargeable batteries, he was so impressed he persuaded Warren Buffett—legendary for his dislike of tech investments—to buy a 10 percent stake in BYD for about $230 million. That was September 2008. Today Buffett's piece is worth nearly $2 billion.

Scan Bloomberg Businessweek's Tech 100 list, and you'll find names familiar and new. From global powerhouses Samsung Electronics and Google to lesser-known players such as Taiwanese chipmaker Phison Electronics and Brazilian e-tailer B2W, these companies have managed to thrive during a bruising global recession. BYD (which stands for Build Your Dreams) has more than flourished: It even outperformed perhaps the hottest tech outfit around, No. 2 Apple.

For an explanation of our methodology, go here.

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Methodology

Data: Bloomberg, as of April 30

Methodology: To compile our list, we started with the more than 6,500 actively traded primary securities in the Bloomberg database in 13 tech sectors. We then set requirements of a minimum market capitalization of $1 billion, revenues of at least $500 million, and no more than a 5 percent decline in revenues from 2008 to 2009 (calculated in local currency). We also excluded companies whose stock had fallen by 50 percent or more in the 12 months ending April 30, 2010.

We then developed a means to normalize revenues and operating income of the remaining 210 companies so they could be fairly compared, and ranked them on these metrics as well as total shareholder return and employee growth, a key indicator of growth in tech companies, with 1 being the top ranking. The rankings received for normalized revenue and operating income were weighted at 35% each, shareholder return at 20% and employee growth at 10%. Adding them all up, the companies with the lowest summed weighted rankings made the Tech 100 list.