Texas Instruments urges suppliers to set up shop at Clark Freeport

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – Texas Instruments (TI) which is investing $1 billion in a facility whose construction has already started, is also attracting companies that may want to locate here to supply TI’s needs.

The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) said yesterday that at least 145 suppliers from the US, Japan, South Korea, China and Malaysia met here recently to meet with CDC and TI officials who briefed them on TI’s operations and needs.

TI is expected to produce modern-technology chips by the middle of 2008, although it is not expected to be fully operational until 2010.

During the meeting, CDC president and chief executive officer Liberato Laus also briefed them on the available space they could lease at this freeport.

He said that “all the necessary provisions for power, utilities and telecom facilities would be in its proper place.”

Laus also assured them that CDC “has reviewed and streamlined permitting procedures to ensure the ease of doing business inside the freeport through our efficient processes”.

“When you do establish your facilities here, we would like to provide you with a new experience – an encounter with a speedy, professional and reliable government organization,” Laus told the suppliers.

TI designs and manufactures analog, digital signal processing and chip technologies that help customers develop products for affordable mobile phones. The chips it produces are also used for classroom projectors that support remote learning, as well as prosthetic devices.

CDC vice president Ernesto Gorospe said the Clark TI facility here covers around eight hectares and is expected to employ more than 3,000 workers once fully operational.

“TI facility here will incorporate many of the environmental and energy design features used by the firm in its newest semi-conductor facilities in the United States,” he noted.

TI first entered the Philippines in 1979 in Baguio City where it now has one of its most sophisticated assembly sites. TI is based in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.