Phl eyed as car manufacturing hub

With vehicles becoming more electronic than mechanical, the Philippines can become the global hub for car manufacturing with its strong electronics manufacturing industry and workforce.

Arthur Tan, president and chief executive officer of Ayala- controlled electronics firm Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI), said recently that while the Philippines has been left behind as a player in the global automotive and automotive parts manufacturing industry, the country may have a chance to catch up and reign supreme in the emerging “megatrend” in the development of cars.

“In 2004, only 10 percent of the value of the car was electronics. In 2014, 35 percent of the car is electronic. By 2025, 70 percent of the car will be electronic,” Tan told the country’s top scientists, engineers, and researchers as well as executives from private manufacturing and industrial companies and startups gathered by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) in a forum last Tuesday at the Manila Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.

The forum, dubbed “Convergence of Technology and Business: Engine for Inclusive Growth,” was held to link the DOST’s science and technology programs with private businesses to improve global competitiveness.

“In the past, what we knew was that a car is a mechanical device and it has a radio in it and that’s electronic. But in the future the car is going to be a PC (personal computer) that happens to have four wheels. That’s where it’s going,” Tan said.

He said the Philippines is way ahead of its neighbors in terms of skills in building quality electronics.

“We have a window right now and if we grab that opportunity, we can be the car manufacturing hub of the future,” Tan said.

Tan said that IMI, a provider of electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and power semiconductor assembly and test services, was very interested in the emerging megatrend.

He said the Philippines’ economic growth in past years increased the purchasing power of young workers.