THE semiconductor industry in the country should take advantage of the growth in the telecommunications industry.
Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co. (PLDT) chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan also encouraged players in the semiconductor industry to use telecommunications innovations to grow their market.
Since the global telecommunication sector accounts for 70 percent of the semiconductor industry’s aggregate output, he said PLDT and its subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. “will need the supply of your (semincoductor companies) creativity and your electronics.”
“Our size and share in the domestic market is a strength we can jointly exploit,” he said in a speech during a recent national convention of semiconductor companies at Shangri-la’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.
As a challenge, Pangilinan told member-companies of Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi) to create a global hub for mobile phone manufacturing in the country, considering that the Philippine market is known to be an early adopter of mobile technology.
He said the country’s sizeable C and D market can justify versions of Chinese mobile phone products like Ningbo Bird.
“(We can) challenge Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola (to provide) the low-end (market),” he added.
He also urged the semiconductor industry to look into biomedical electronics as Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the other company he chairs, is in the process of establishing a network of hospitals throughout the country.
Medicine
“The field of medicine offers a fertile ground for biomedical electronics that can be networked and deployed,” he said, adding that the semiconductor companies could come up with devices that can read and transmit data on bodily functions, which can be accessed remotely with a mobile phone.
Pangilinan also cited green electronics as another area where the telecommunication and semiconductor industries can work together.
Pangilinan told stakeholders of the semiconductor industry what the direction is for the telecommunication group.
He pointed out that the wireless handset segment’s growth has moderated as the market expands to smarter and higher-end users. This market, he said, will include users of personal digital assistants (PDAs), iPhones and Blackberrys.
Wireless handsets reportedly account for 20 percent of semiconductors units.
Network equipment, accounting for 10 percent of semiconductor demand, will also grow “relatively modestly,” together with enterprise networks and wireless infrastructure, said Pangilinan.
“But large advances are promising in key pockets of broadband,” he said.
Pangilinan also recommended a strategy for companies to work with the academe for research and development investments. “(Research and development) must be those that offer considerable potential for patenting, technology transfer to industry and for the creation of new businesses,” he said.
He cited the partnership between Texas Instruments and Angeles University Foundation as an example of such endeavor. (DME)
