BIZ BUZZ: Pax Silica may just land iPhone maker
An iPhone maker is increasingly likely to come to town—but it isn’t Apple, yet.
Instead, what the Philippines appears to have attracted to its planned 1,619-hectare artificial intelligence (AI) hub in New Clark City is the manufacturing company behind many of the world’s iPhones.
We’re talking about none other than Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant and the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer.
Biz Buzz learned that the company is at the most advanced stage of locating at the Pax Silica hub, the AI industrial enclave being jointly developed by the Philippines and the United States.
Foxconn is already preparing to send technical teams to inspect the Pampanga site as part of its due diligence, bringing it one step closer to becoming what could be the Pax Silica hub’s much-awaited first tenant.
In locating within New Clark City, the company would add the Philippines to a sprawling manufacturing network that spans 241 factories and offices across 24 countries.
In Asia, Foxconn already has operations in China, India, Vietnam and Malaysia, where it manufactures products for some of the world’s biggest technology companies.
For Pax Silica, attracting a company of Foxconn’s stature would be a major validation for a project that is merely three months old and has yet to break ground.
While the hub has already drawn interest from more than 50 companies, bagging one of the world’s biggest electronics manufacturers would give the development an anchor investor capable of drawing even more global technology firms.
As negotiations with Foxconn progress, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is also working to finalize the governance framework for Pax Silica with the United States.
BCDA President and CEO Joshua Bingcang, together with Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, traveled to Washington last week for the second Pax Silica Summit, where the initiative welcomed 10 new partners: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the European Union, Germany, Greece, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Panama.
For all the buzz surrounding Pax Silica, landing Foxconn may prove to be the project’s biggest statement yet.
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