Semicon sector attracts $2.3-B investments in 2010

MANILA, Philippines –  Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc (SEIPI) reported yesterday that the industry attracted $2.318 billion or P102.5 billion worth of investments in 2010.

SEIPI president Ernesto Santiago said that the investments for 2010 was the highest in the Philippine semiconductor and electronics industry’s history. For 2011, Santiago said that they are looking at a 10-percent growth.

According to Santiago, this year’s investment is 380 percent higher than 2009 investments of $484 million. The year 2010 is also the seventh year the industry hit the over $ 1 Billion of investments. The last time was in years 2007, 2000, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994.

These investments were registered by 100 companies. Of the 100, 10 are expansions while the rest are new projects. It is expected that these investments will generate 24,552 new direct jobs which include engineers, technicians and operators. For every one direct job, there are seven indirect jobs created.

The electronics industry had a strong start and encouraging finish in 2010 and is expected to hit an export revenue of over $31 billion, $9 billion to $10 billion increase over its 2009 exports, Santiago said.

The industry is bullish for 2011 and reported that the electronics sector will continue to be the driver of growth for Philippine exports. Its present guidance is a 10 percent growth for 2011. No global electronics “crash” appears to be looming for early 2011, Santiago said. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star)