Eleven large ASEAN electronic companies to gather in Manila

Eleven ASEAN multinational and homegrown electronic companies will gather in the ASEAN Electronics Business Opportunities Exhibition and Conference (AE-BOEC) on 07 December at the Makati Shangri-La.

P.T. Toshiba Consumer Products (Indonesia), LKT Industrial Berhad (Malaysia), Venture Corporation, Ltd. (Singapore), Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Thailand), Vietnam Electronics Industry Association (VEIA), Texas Instruments Philippines, Inc., Sharp Philippines, and Panasonic (ASEAN) will present their procurement programs at the ASEAN-Business Opportunities Conference, as well as showcase their products, parts, and supplies they intend to procure from the ASEAN region in the ASEAN Reverse Trade Fair (AE-RTF).

Also joining the AE-RTF are PSI Technologies, Inc., Amkor Technology Philippines, Inc., and ON Semiconductor Philippines, Inc.

“In the ASEAN Reverse Trade Fair, suppliers can walk through a host of multinational electronic companies in the ASEAN,” said Assistant Trade Secretary and CITEM Executive Director Fe Agoncillo-Reyes. “This unique scenario is expected to facilitate tie-ups, business ventures, and joint undertakings during the one-on-one business meetings arranged during the fair,” added Agoncillo- Reyes.

Countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand will feature their investment scenario to encourage investors to do business ventures or establish joint undertakings within the ASEAN region.

The event is expected to bring in delegates from the British Trade and Investment Center, Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency, Association of Electronics Industries in Singapore, and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation.

“AE-BOEC is the ASEAN’s first initiative to fast track the integration of the region’s electronics sectors by facilitating and promoting intra-ASEAN investments, improving the condition and retaining manufacturing and other economic activities in the region,” said Agoncillo-Reyes. The event is foreseen to promote intra-ASEAN trade and increase outsourcing through a single production and supply base for all electronic products.

The AE-BOEC is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the trade promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, and in cooperation with the Board of Investments (BOI) Business Development Team for Electronics, the ASEAN Electronics Forum, and Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI).

According to the ASEAN Secretariat Report, intra-ASEAN total trade in 2005 reached US$163.7 billion from US$141.3 billion in 2004.

In the field of electronics, Malaysian electronics industry accounts for around 60% of the country's manufacturing exports and is the leading industrial sector in terms of investment, industrial output and employment. Indonesia represents under 1% of global electronics output and a similar share of the market. Components represent the largest share of output, followed by consumer electronics computing. On the other hand, the electronics industry in the Philippines is dominated by components and computing, the two segments accounting for 87% of the country's electronics output, and is dominated by foreign-owned multinationals who accounted for an estimated 80% of electronics exports.

Production of computer equipment accounts for 48% of total electronics output in Singapore and a major factor in the country accounting for 8% of global electronics output. Thailand 's electronics industry, like many Asian countries, is supported by overseas investment. Computing and components are the highest electronics production of the country.