NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Evidence is growing that Japan is finally starting to show some signs of life. And that's good news for tech companies looking for new growth.

According to figures released by the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday, semiconductor sales in Japan in August were up 15 percent from a year ago, compared with a 0.5 percent drop in North America and South America.

What's more, chip sales in Japan for the past three months increased 8 percent from March, April and May. Sales in the Americas were up 4 percent in the same time period.

The rebound is beginning to show up in the results of U.S techs. Software firms Adobe (ADBE: Research, Estimates) and Red Hat (RHAT: Research, Estimates) both cited improving sales in Japan in their latest earnings reports earlier this month.

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And Oracle's (ORCL: Research, Estimates) majority-owned Japanese subsidiary Oracle Japan said earlier this month that it is projecting an earnings increase of 10 percent in its current fiscal year, after two consecutive years of profit declines.

Despite a more than decade-long economic slump, Japan remains an important part of many tech companies' revenue streams, since Japanese consumers tend to be early adopters of new technologies. According to figures from tech research firm Aberdeen Group, the total amount of IT spending in Japan is second only to the United States.

"Japan is so lucrative that every night when I'm going to sleep I think of how I can crack that market," said Patrick Lo, CEO of Netgear (NTGR: Research, Estimates), a networking equipment firm catering to small businesses and the home market.

One factor that could help U.S.-based tech firms like Netgear is that the Japanese government appears "hellbent" on driving up the adoption of broadband technologies, said Tam Dell'Oro, founder of the Dell'Oro Group, a research firm that tracks the telecom equipment sector.

Michael Mahoney, managing director of EGM Capital, a hedge fund focusing on technology, said chip companies GlobespanVirata (GSPN: Research, Estimates) and Centillium Communications (CTLM: Research, Estimates) should benefit from an improving Japanese economy since they both make DSL chipsets. In Japan, DSL is more popular than cable modems as a means for broadband Internet connections in the home.

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Daniel Boone, managing partner with Atlanta Capital, said that semiconductor company Microchip Technology (MCHP: Research, Estimates) and electronics component manufacturer Molex (MOLX: Research, Estimates) are examples of two techs he owns with a presence in Japan that stand to gain from a turnaround in that market.

Of course, stories about an imminent Japanese recovery have surfaced numerous times throughout the past decade. But that doesn't mean that tech investors should completely dismiss the notion of a bounceback.

"A recovery for Japan is inevitable, and when it happens it will be big for all of tech," said Matt Kelmon, president of Kelmoore Investment Co.