The Kaohsiung-Subic Bay-Clark economic corridor is proceeding well, as it seeks to strengthen economic relations between Taiwan and the Philippines, a Philippine government official said in an interview on Saturday.
By linking the three economic and export process zones and allowing easier product and manpower movement, Taiwan and the Philippines would be able to build upon their already successful trade relations, creating a win-win situation, said Armand Arreza, administrator and chief executive of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
Arreza was part of a delegation that visited Taiwan from Wednesday to Saturday to review the implementation of the economic corridor, an initiative of former minister of economic affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) in 2005. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed and went into effect last May.
The Philippines and Taiwan have enjoyed a long and harmonious trade relationship, Arreza said, adding that there are more than 45 Taiwanese firms in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone which account for more than 80 percent of the zone's export value.
The establishment of the corridor is expected to resolve some of the issues that have concerned Taiwanese companies and make Subic Bay attractive again, he said.
The Clark Special Economic Zone, a former US Air Force base located just north of Manila, would also become more attractive for Taiwanese companies, especially following Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's announcement of a US$1 billion investment by Texas Instruments earlier this week, Clark Development Corp director Benigno Ricafort said.
Arreza, referring to local news reports that Taiwanese businesses were making an "exodus" from Subic Bay, stressed that the freeport welcomes Taiwanese firms and that it was "delivering more and more incentives to Taiwanese companies."
"This is an international zone for everyone. Companies from South Korea, China and the US have seen the opportunities [for investment.] It's only a matter of time before Taiwanese once again recognize the opportunities," Arreza said.
He did admit, however, that some Taiwanese companies have moved out of Subic Bay, explaining that "it's just a part of the business" since firms are always looking for cheaper labor.
"Today, they're moving to Vietnam, tomorrow they will be in Cambodia. And in the future, they will probably be in Africa," he said.
"But we want to work with Taiwan, and we are always looking to adjust," he reiterated, saying that qualified engineers are in short supply, and that's Taiwan's strength.
If Taiwanese firms take advantage of the Philippine labor force and help to develop its talent and creativity, this would be beneficial for both sides, he said.
Subic Bay and Clark are working hard to improve infrastructure, including building expressways, international airports and power supply networks, Ricafort added.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced in a press release that the Philippines has agreed to grant Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturers tax-free treatment for a period of between six to eight years, as well as 90-day visas and work permits, while lowering electricity costs. The two sides would also collaborate to push for direct flights between Kaohsiung and Taipei and Subic Bay and Clark, and to integrate tourism into the corridor in the future, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, bilateral trade between Taiwan and the Philippines reached US$7.2 billion last year, with Taiwan ranking as the Philippines' sixth-largest trading partner.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to