Philippines ready to work with US semiconductor industry – PBBM

President Marcos has assured the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the private sector that the Philippines is ready to work with them should they decide to invest or expand in the country.

Marcos said this during a roundtable with the SIA on Thursday, Nov. 16 (Manila time).

The President assured the association that the Philippines is ready to work with them from both the government and the private sector.

“We assure you of this Administration's support to keep industrial peace, provide a worldclass workforce that is responsive to the needs of the industry, and enhance the business environment that will be conducive to further growth,” he said.

Marcos said the government is putting in all its efforts to capacitate them further to become work- and future-ready and remain globally competitive for priority industries such as the semiconductor industry.

He said his administration ranks the semiconductor and electronics industries among its top priorities. With the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, he said the sector could grant up to 40 years of incentives for highly desirable projects with a minimum investment capacity of ₱50 billion, or roughly more or less $1 billion or at least 10,000 job generation.

He added that the Philippines aspires to participate more significantly in the US semiconductor value chain.

As the US increases its front-end wafer capacity for advanced technologies and products under the CHIPS Act, Malacañang said the Philippines stands ready to absorb and support the additional corresponding capacity for assembly, packaging, and testing that will be required.

“It also seeks to go beyond and higher in the value chain, such as in chip design, and is earnest in increasing its activity in this space, for which partnership with the SIA and its members would significantly accelerate the realization of that aspiration,” it added.

This can be done by establishing a lab-scale wafer fabrication facility to support the Science and Technology Center (STC) that the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) is proposing. (Argyll Cyrus Geducos)