Philippine Manufacturing Co. of Murata Inc., a subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said it will produce more electronic components for smartphones and cars in its new building which will start operations this month.
‘Actually, we will inaugurate the building on October 22. That’s our fourth building. So, the size of the building is 100 by 300 meters. It has two floors,’ Janet Inocencio, deputy general manager of Philippine Manufacturing told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the press briefing organized by the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) last week. Once operational, Inocencio said the electronics maker is hoping to double the current number of its employees.
‘So, the current headcount at Murata is 4,300. And once the last building starts operations, the target would be around 8,000 to 10,000 people.’ Inocencio said this new building will manufacture more Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitor (MLCC), the electronic components used in modern devices.
‘Our product is 100 percent for export. The application of our MLCC is for automotive and smartphones.’
This is the fourth building of Murata in the First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) in Tanauan, Batangas.
Inocencio said the Kyoto-based electronics manufacturer poured P4.4 billion into the construction of the new building.
As for the exports outlook of the company for this year, Inocencio said she expects to see gains because of its recent expansion.
‘Although we felt there was a tightening of the belt, but still, we’re good. The future of electronics and semiconductor industry here in the Philippines is still positive,’ the Murata official told this newspaper.
She said Murata accounts for 40 percent of the global market of MLCC. During the recent press briefing for Philippine Semiconductor and Electronic Convention and Exhibition 2025 (PSECE), SEIPI President Danilo C. Lachica said the ‘default growth drivers’ for the electronics industry would be new devices.
‘Year-on-year, whether it’s now or five years from now, the growth drivers for the electronics industry would be new devices, new technology. And it’s in different sectors, whether they are in automobiles, devices, cellphones, obviously, computers.’
According to the website of Murata, the firm operates both a sales branch and a large production site in the Philippines.
The Kyoto-based electronics maker said its facility in the Philippines is Murata’s ‘largest production site’ in Asia. Operations started in early 2013 with the production of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors.
Electronics exports accounted for 53 percent of the country’s $55.7-billion export revenues in January to August, according to official government data.