By Almira Louise S. Martinez, Reporter
THE talent pool of chip designers in the Philippines is shallow, and a major buildup is necessary to compete globally, a technology advocate said.
“We need to develop a lot of talent, thousands and thousands, to be able to join the global workforce in designing the chips,” Glenn B. Quiro, technology advocate of Apl.De.Ap Foundation International, said in an interview.
According to Mr. Quiro, assembly test and packaging are currently the biggest employers in the semiconductor industry.
He noted however that the Philippines must focus on producing engineers who can design chips.
“It’s not easy to design, so the engineers that we develop need to be able to handle high complexity,” he told BusinessWorld.
“We can have more engineers also designing them, not just manufacturing them,” he added.
Mr. Quiro, who is also the former general manager of Intel Corp. in Shenzhen and Shanghai, said the Philippines should motivate students to pursue a career in the industry.
“We need to have the talent pipeline to support growth because it’s important and we need to make sure that the infrastructure that’s needed is also available,” he said.
According to the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, the semiconductor industry was responsible for around 3 million direct and indirect jobs in 2023.
On its website, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. said the Philippines has a broad talent pool of highly competitive, English-proficient, and skilled workers.
“The key here is training our engineers to be not only smart in theory, but also smart in the practical implementation of the job that they will have when they graduate,” Mr. Quiro said.
