California\'s Santa Clara County, the primary site of Silicon Valley, has become the area that is gaining more Asians than any other places in the United States, said demographic statistics release Thursday.
It is a notable population milestone for a suburban county smaller than multi-ethnic urban centers like Los Angeles and New York, and demographers say births, immigration and economic growth are fueling the on-going Asian boom in the northern California county.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Santa Clara County gained nearly 18,000 new Asian residents in the year ending July 1, 2006, a 3.3 percent increase from 2005. That was nearly 2,000 more than Los Angeles County, which reported the second-largest growth.
Santa Clara\'s Asian population has jumped by 20 percent, or about 91,000 people, so far this decade. The county is fast overtaking San Francisco, with more than a century of Asian history, as the continental U.S. county with the largest share of Asians.
The fact indicates how unique the Santa Clara Country is and Silicon Valley is in general. In California, only Los Angeles County had more Asian births than Santa Clara County in 2005, and although Asians for now still make up a slightly larger share of the population in San Francisco, a baby born there is less likely to be Asian than one born in Santa Clara County.
The booming Asian population provides various new business opportunities in the area, where even mainstream companies are forced to adapt and cross the ethnic lines.
Wells Fargo Bank this year began outdoor advertising in all- Chinese characters in San Jose neighborhoods with large numbers of Chinese speakers, and there are about 40 Asian ethnic media outlets based in the area, including newspapers serving South Asians, Vietnamese and Chinese readers.
From Chinese actresses like Gong Li starring in mainstream Hollywood movies like "Miami Vice," to the rise of five-star Asian restaurants everywhere, marketing experts say there is increasing merge between Asian and non-Asian cultures across the United States, especially in places like Silicon Valley.
