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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—Barely two weeks after agreeing to waive
rental fees for high-technology firms from Taiwan, the
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said it now has
two takers for the scheme meant to shift Subic into high
value-added industries.
SBMA
Administrator Armand Arreza said Wednesday the agency is
now negotiating the final terms for business ventures
proposed by Taiwanese firms Gongin Precision Industrial
Co. Ltd., and the Teco Group of Companies.
Gongin,
a major player in Taiwan’s machinery and equipment
industry, proposes a cluster of factories to produce
precision tools and electronic products in a 10-hectare
production complex here, while Teco plans to set up a
software-development park at Subic’s Redondo Peninsula
to produce digitalized flat-screen television sets and
components.
Arreza
said the two Taiwanese firms were the first
high-technology firms that jumped on a rent-free
incentives package approved during the
Philippines-Taiwan joint economic conference held from
June 12 to 14 in Taipei.
The
offer, good for up to five years in Subic and three
years in the Clark Free port, will apply to firms
committing a minimum investment of $25 million.
Arreza
said the entry of Gongin and Teco will not only bolster
investments, exports production and job creation in
Subic, but will also jump-start the free port’s thrust
toward high-technology ventures.
He added
the two firms have both expressed interest to build IT
parks patterned after Taiwan’s Nankang Software Park,
which specializes on software development, integrated
circuit design and biotechnology.
“We want
Subic to move upstream into the electronic industry,”
Arreza explained.
“Instead
of the usual testing and packaging, Subic will now
provide software design and manufacture complete
electronic products,” he added.
Aside
from setting up a 10-hectare manufacturing complex,
Gongin will also introduce in Subic a one-stop-shop
customer-support facility for customer-firms like
General Electric, Seneca, Applied Materials, Philips,
Hitachi, Mitsubishi and TDK.
In
Taiwan the company has core operations that range from
high precision plating and stamping, to
injection-forming molds for aerospace, opto-electronics,
automation and semiconductor applications.
Arreza
said that IT firms in Clark support companies like
Gongin to supply precision tooling for IC chips.
“Subic
will thus develop the industry that will supply
electronic parts and components,” he said.
On the
other hand, Arreza said that Teco also plans to use the
Subic Freeport as staging area to train electronic
engineers and software designers to fill up the manpower
shortage in Taiwan.
The Teco
Group, which has about 30 subsidiaries and affiliates
around the globe, manufactures home appliances,
telecommunications equipment, IT systems,
electromechanical components and commercial electronics.
“Taiwan
does not have enough engineers to support its growth,”
Arreza said, pointing out the potential technology
transfer with the entry of high-tech firms here.
He said
Teco will be training Filipino engineers in Taiwan as
part of an “intercompany transfer” scheme that will not
be subject to Taiwan’s foreign workers quota. |
