Taiwan’s Wistron Infocomm to invest add’l P399M in RP

Wistron Infocomm (Phils.) Corp. (WPH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan’s Wistron Corp., is investing an additional P398.813 million to assemble global positioning system (GPS) electronic devices in its existing manufacturing facility located at the Subic Industrial Park, Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Zambales.

WPH plans to manufacture/assemble and export to Europe 2,080,000 pieces of GPS electronic devices.

WPH applied for registration on a pioneer status with the Board of Investments (BOI) for its new project.

However, the BOI approved WPH’s GPS project on a non-pioneer status noting that there is already another local company engaged in the manufacture of GPS electronic devices. Based on Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) rules, if there are two registered PEZA enterprises engaged in the same activity, the activity is no longer considered pioneer.

Just last year, WPH had also registered with the BOI its Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) manufacturing/assembly project also at the Subic Bay Industrial Park.

WPH also manufactures motherboards and laptop computer units in Subic.

Wistron’s investments indicate the confidence of Taiwanese businessmen in pouring in big ticket projects in the country and making the Philippines as its export manufacturing base for its sophisticated products.

Wistron Corp. is among the world’s largest original design manufacturer (ODM) of ICT products.

From its headquarters in Taiwan, Wistron has expanded its operations to Asia, Europe and North America.

For the GPS project, WPH hired an additional 176 employees to assemble the GPS electronic devices which will be exported to Europe.