SOME of the proposed nodes under the Philippines’ emerging technology corridor could eventually host companies linked to the United States-led Pax Silica initiative, according to a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) official.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo, who also heads the Board of Investments (BOI), said the other proposed nodes could accommodate either Pax Silica partners or companies outside the initiative, depending on the projects that eventually locate in each area.
‘For now, New Clark City is the most tangible,’ Rodolfo told reporters on the sidelines of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines event in Taguig on Monday.
‘The others can be with a Pax Silica partner or a Pax Silica non-partner,’ he added.
The proposed Philippine Technology Corridor maps six regional nodes covering critical minerals, advanced materials, integrated-circuit (IC) design, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI) computing, connectivity and semiconductor fabrication.
New Clark City is identified as the advanced manufacturing hub; the National Capital Region as an IC design and innovation hub; Mindanao as a minerals corridor; Batangas as an AI compute and cloud hub; Aurora as a Pacific-facing connectivity gateway; and Bulacan as a future wafer fabrication hub.
Per Rodolfo, the government is not creating these projects from scratch. Rather, it is bringing existing projects and government plans under a common technology-value-chain framework.
‘We’re just looking at the different projects that we have. Those projects already exist. The lens to look at them towards a whole ecosystem, that’s new,’ the BOI Managing Head explained.
For its part, the BOI is currently taking the lead in developing the corridor concept because it serves as the government’s main interface with private-sector investors, Rodolfo said.
However, the initiative involves several agencies that already have separate plans involving areas such as artificial intelligence and advanced technology.
Development of the nodes is also unlikely to happen simultaneously.
Rodolfo said the government and private sector are already moving on the New Clark City node, with the IC design hub expected to follow.
The pace could differ depending on the type of investment. For instance, an advanced manufacturing or semiconductor facility in Clark would require basic infrastructure such as power and water before actual factory construction could begin.
‘In Clark, remember, you only need infrastructure there, power, water. It will take some time to build that,’ Rodolfo said. ‘Before you can see the actual investment in the factory, it might take more than a year to see that. While in IC Design, it might be faster.’