Pax Silica minus data centers: Seize the opportunity
With the data center no longer on the table, this project should now be given top priority and be expedited as soon as possible for multiple reasons:
1. The Philippines has a long and proven track record and years of experience in the successful setup and operation of semiconductor manufacturing facilities for five decades.
2. All needed resources and the ecosystem are already in place—established material/equipment suppliers, utilities and logistics, allied industries (tooling and services), human resources like highly experienced industry leaders/managers, highly skilled engineering talent, highly trained operations manpower, etc.
3. Less training is required, thus resulting in a shorter time frame to establish all planned businesses in the allocated 1,600+ hectare industrial hub similar to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
4. Projected jobs can be easily created sooner than expected, thus generating more employment opportunities to boost the country’s economy at a faster pace.
5. Even if the plan includes a high-value wafer fabrication facility, it can still be done. It’s high time the Philippines had one. We just need to learn from Singapore, which has 21 wafer fabs as of 2026, and source its water resources through supplies from Malaysia, rainwater catchment, water recycling, and water desalination.
Lucky are those who are still around in the industry for they can reap more benefits from this highly ambitious venture. Luckier are the younger generation, with abundant long-term opportunities and career advancement. In our time, we’ve only kept on dreaming of new locators as a chance to taste ”greener pastures.”
If we were only in a corporate setting, the CEO should now tell his ”lieutenants” to “drop everything and focus” on this Pax Silica thing!
JEROME L. ESCOBEDO,
Lapu-Lapu City
