Japanese semicon firm to build facility in Batangas

MANILA, Philippines — A Japanese semiconductor firm is set to break ground on a manufacturing facility in Batangas as part of its expansion plan in the Philippines.

Aboitiz Economic Estates president and CEO Rafael Fernandez de Mesa told reporters the Japanese firm is holding its groundbreaking for the new facility in November.

“It’s one of the bigger global companies from Japan,” he said.

He said that the new facility would be located at the LIMA Estate in Batangas and cover 20 hectares.

The new facility will expand the Japanese firm’s footprint in the Philippines as it is already present in another industrial park in the country.

“In terms of the Philippines being an attractive destination, about 50 percent of our new locators every year are coming from our network, in our ecosystem here in the Philippines, or from other companies located in the Philippines that are expanding in our industrial estate. So, that tells you that those investors are happy with the Philippines,” De Mesa said.

He said that a foreign food company is also planning to set up a manufacturing facility covering 12 hectares at Aboitiz Economic Estates’ TARI Estate in Tarlac.

“So, we’re now working with them to go through the process of registration,” he said.

He said the food firm is expected to begin construction of the facility by early next year.

While TARI Estate’s first phase of locators are mostly in the food and beverage sector, he said the company expects the next phase of locators to be similar to the mix in LIMA Estate, which also hosts electronic and semiconductor firms.

“Given that there’s this opportunity in front of us from the Luzon Economic Corridor to Pax Silica, we’re hoping that this demand that we’ve been seeing consistently over the last 10 years will actually increase with all of these favorable developments,” De Mesa said.

He said the country must be ready not just in terms of land, but also in utilities and talent pool to support these investments.

As part of the support for interested investors, Aboitiz Economic Estates and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) signed a memorandum of understanding for the next phase of the EaseBiz program, which aims to make it easier to register with the investment promotion agency and establish operations.

Through the program, which started in 2022, Aboitiz Economic Estates was able to assist more than two dozen PEZA-registration cases, including six investors supported after the model was formalized in 2025.

For the next phase of EaseBiz, the focus will be on adapting locator-support processes to PEZA’s The One Portal System.

PEZA director general Tereso Panga said the agency has automated 80 percent of its permitting processes.

He said the aim is to achieve 100 percent automation by next year, making PEZA among the first government agencies with fully cashless and paperless transactions.

“PEZA remains committed to enhancing ease of doing business in our ecozones so that investor confidence translates into concrete projects, quality jobs and increased exports,” Panga said.