Because there is little data and no organized government record of companies owned by foreign investors, cataloguing such companies depends on gathering that information anecdotally, randomly. "There's probably a lot of foreign-owned companies here. But there's no data," says Bill Stafford, president of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle.

Nonetheless, here are examples of three such companies that contribute to employment as well as to the economy of Washington state:

WaferTech, in Camas on the Columbia River, is one of the world's largest chip foundries. A wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, WaferTech built its Clark County plant in 1996 to take advantage of cheap electricity, Columbia River water and an educated workforce. WaferTech employs about 1,000 people who put microelectronic circuitry on raw silicon wafers. To date, TSMC has invested $1.5 billion in the operation.

Toray Composites (America) Inc. was built on 25 acres in the Port of Tacoma's Frederickson Industrial Area in 1992. It produces composite materials for Boeing, including materials for the 787 Dreamliner. The Japanese-owned firm adds more than 278 jobs to the Puget Sound region, and in 1999 was named Boeing's "Supplier of the Year" in the raw materials category. Boeing honored Toray "for perfect delivery performance, exceptional product quality and cost reductions of several years' duration. The quality of Toray products to Boeing - graphite tape and fiberglass fabric - is the standard against which other suppliers are measured. Of the thousands of rolls received each year, less than one-tenth of one percent has had to be reworked or replaced far below the industry average."

Philips Healthcare, a Dutch company, moved its North American headquarters from Connecticut to Bothell in 1998, bringing with it 80 employees. Today it employs about 2,700 people in the Puget Sound region. Philips Healthcare is a global leader in diagnostic imaging systems, health care information technology solutions, and patient monitoring and cardiac devices. Technologies include X-ray, ultrasound, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, nuclear medicine, PET, radiation oncology systems and resuscitation products. Philips also provides customer services such as financing, training and education, business consultancy and maintenance and repair. The company grows its business primarily through acquisitions here and elsewhere in North America.