Taiwanese electronics giant bets on growth of PH manufacturing

Taiwanese electronics giant New Kinpo Group will expand its operations in the Philippines by setting up more factories that can generate some 15,000 jobs for the country.

According to Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., this commitment from a foreign firm is proof the Philippines is fast becoming a regional hub for electronics manufacturing.

Cristobal said the New Kinpo Group was planning to build another facility at First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) in Batangas, following the completion of two other factories in the same province. One of these factories, located at the Lima Technology Center, was recently inaugurated while the other started operations last year.

In 2015, the firm announced it was relocating many of its production lines in China by investing P2.8 billion for a new plant in Batangas.  This facility will serve as the main production base of consumer electronic products such as calculators and electronic keyboards. Annual capacity was seen to reach nearly 1 million electronic products, which would cater to the requirements of its customers, including Casio, Texas Instruments and Citizen Systems.

In a statement, New Kinpo Group CEO and president Yong “Simon” Shen said the company’s future projects in the country would employ a total of 15,000 workers.

He added the company was also actively recruiting qualified Filipino engineers for its new facilities.

Shen earlier said the company saw the manufacturing potential of the Philippines as it promised to “bring additional business here in the future as the conditions are ideal for electronic manufacturing services (EMS) companies.”