The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains.
The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday.
The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island.
Photo: EPA
The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence [AI]-native industrial acceleration hub” under the Pax Silica Initiative, a Washington-led supply chain alliance that also includes Australia, India, Israel, Japan and the UK.
The Philippines became the 13th country to join the grouping under the US Department of State’s flagship effort on AI and supply chain security.
The hub is yet another step to deepen economic ties between the US and the Philippines, as the treaty allies also bolster their military relationship.
It is a win for Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who has sought to capitalize on his country’s long-standing defense alliance with the US to secure more investments.
Marcos has bolstered security ties with Washington, allowing US troops to access more Philippine bases and deploy advanced weapons amid Manila’s territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea. At the same time, the US has helped Manila woo US investors and extended funding for a railway project.
The industrial economic zone “can leverage the Philippines’ geographic centrality in the Indo-Pacific region, its young and technically skilled workforce, and its deepening alliance with the United States,” the department said.
The Philippines holds significant reserves of nickel, copper, chromite and cobalt, which are increasingly vital to global supply chains, it added.
Manila and Washington earlier signed a pact to boost cooperation on critical minerals.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) employee bonuses are likely to grow more than 30 percent this year, in line with the past few years as the company’s profits continue to set new records, an anonymous source cited TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) as saying yesterday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is committed to taking care of its workers, the source said, citing Wei’s meeting with employees yesterday morning. Wei also expressed gratitude to employees for their contribution to the company’s improving bottom line, the source added. Since 2023, TSMC’s employee bonuses have grown at an annual rate of
RSS