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AFTER a
breakthrough year in 2007 in terms of investments, the
local electronics industry is experiencing a slowdown in
the entry of fresh capital due to the anxieties caused
by the slowdown in the US market and the ripple it
created in the Philippines’ other major export
destinations.
Ernie
Santiago, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics
Industries of the Philippines Inc. (Seipi), said new
investments in the industry dipped by about 9 percent to
$100 million in the first two months of the year from
$110 million in the same period last year.
“It’s
almost the same, just a slight dip. The industry is
still not moving that much,” Santiago told the
Businessmirror.
Despite
the wait-and-see attitude of the industry, Santiago said
they are still maintaining their $1-billion investments
target for the year.
The
industry players are still waiting for what will happen,
particularly in the second quarter, in the
US,
Europe, Japan and China, according to him.
In
Seipi’s recent meeting in
Baguio City,
Santiago said economic experts gave them a glimpse of
what is going on in the industry’s major export markets.
In
summary, Santiago said the US is into recession, Europe
is showing signs of going into recession,
Japan
has no growth, and China will be growing slower than in
2007.
In the
first quarter of the year,
Santiago
said the industry’s exports growth is only at close to 2
percent.
The
second quarter, he said, will be critical as it will
determine if the industry’s beginning-of-the-year
projection of flat growth will hold water.
“We are
looking at the second quarter. If it is flat or better,
there would be potential upsides,”
Santiago
said.
The
crucial April-to-June period will determine the outcome
of the year.
He said
as long as they don’t go into negative territory in the
second quarter of the year, the industry will remain out
of the red for 2008.
The last
quarter of the year, he said, is traditionally a strong
period for electronics exports.
Santiago
remains confident that investments will continue to be
strong this year, especially with the other half of
Texas Instruments’ $1-billion semiconductor
manufacturing project in Clark, Pampanga, still to come
in.
“With
just another $500 million coming in, the industry’s
investments will be growing considerably already,” he
said.
Last
year the industry attracted $1.4 billion in investments,
the first time since 2000 when fresh capital infusion
breached the $1-billion mark. |
