MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will make a push for some of the world’s biggest technology companies to locate within the planned Pax Silica hub in New Clark City, where development work could begin as early as 2027.
Among those on the government’s “wish list” are Apple, Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., MediaTek, United Microelectronics Corp., Qualcomm, AMD and Broadcom Inc.
“We are going to invite them once the ecosystem is available,” Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and CEO Joshua Bingcang said at a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Monday.
“Once the agreement is signed, we’re going to court them together with our private sector partners.”
But simply attracting these companies to the site is not the BCDA’s ultimate vision for the 1,619-hectare (ha) project.
“One day, we want to have our own brand. The Philippines should have its own brand,” Bingcang said. “We should not just be buyers, but producers of these companies.”
Even as Pax Silica is United States-led, Bingcang assured that the BCDA would not limit its options to investments from Washington as it seeks to transform New Clark City into an advanced manufacturing base.
The BCDA chief said he was already in talks with three other countries for similar industrial developments—though not at the scale of the 1,619-ha Pax Silica site—although discussions remain preliminary.
South Korea, he said, is interested in leasing at least 250 ha in New Clark City, while Singapore is eyeing a larger 300-ha site. Taiwan is likewise interested in leasing land there, which Bingcang noted had been master-planned from the outset to host advanced manufacturing and industrial facilities.
Technology corridor
“We want to assure that we’re not just limiting the option to one country,” Bingcang said. “There are other opportunities.”
Meanwhile, the BCDA is currently negotiating a “master agreement” with its US government counterparts for the Pax Silica site.
Should the November target for the signing be met, Bingcang said development works at the site could begin as early as 2027.
He earlier indicated that the full development of Pax Silica could take 30 years, with the first locators expected within three to five years.
Even ahead of site construction, the government has already laid out a grander vision for how Pax Silica would fit into the Philippines’ planned “technology corridor.”
New Clark City’s Pax Silica hub will form the first part of that plan, followed by an integrated circuit design hub planned for Metro Manila. Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo earlier identified Muntinlupa as a potential site for that hub due to the strong presence of academe and industry there.
Next will be a minerals corridor in Mindanao, where the government plans to source materials needed for advanced manufacturing.
The government is also targeting Batangas as the site of prospective AI compute data centers and other cloud and digital infrastructure.
Rodolfo noted that the state-run Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority had also pitched a “Pax Pacifica” initiative, under which its Casiguran site would anchor a Pacific-facing hub for subsea cables, digital trade, edge infrastructure and logistics.
Ultimately, the technology corridor envisions establishing the Philippines’ first wafer laboratory in Bulacan as part of efforts to attract more foundry investments.
