Toshiba expands RP operations

Toshiba Information Equipment Philippines Inc. (TIP) is expanding its operation in the Philippines.

TIP is increasing the production volume of its hard disk drives (HDDs) from one million to two million.

According to Trade and Industry Secretary Juan B. Santos, Toshiba’s expansion is a vote of confidence in the country’s manufacturing capability and its attractiveness to lure foreign investments especially in critical industries.

Various products using HDD appear in the market not only for information systems but also consumer products.

In the consumer market, mobile products using small form factor (SFF) HDD has become popular and the application of SFF- HDD is widely expanding.

On the other hand, consumer products in which HDD is adopted are creating additional values such as time sifting, IT terminals and so on.

Toshiba will invest in the construction of new facilities for cleanroom, other machine and equipment to respond to increasing demand for hard disk drives.

The new cleanroom will have the capacity for producing one million units of HDD.

TIP’s new facilities will be inaugurated today (June 2) at the factory site in Laguna Technopark.

Santos said the government is continuously improving the country’s infrastructure to make it an attractive platform for manufacturing ventures such the electronics industry.

Santos added that TIP’s new facility would "definitely advance the technical capability of our workers in running high tech equipment. At the same time it improves the country’s production capabilities in the electronics sector."

Electronics and semiconductors are the country’s top export product and this new development will help the country increase its shipment of goods to overseas markets.

TIP intends to continuously play a very significant role as the manufacturing site for SD products.