Philippine chipmakers are embracing automation — and leaving low-skilled workers behind
The Philippines has long been a hub for semiconductor manufacturing services — largely assembly, testing, and packaging. Now, the government is keen to go up the value chain with increased automation and an army of young engineers. That means lower-skilled workers, many of them women, are getting left behind.
The industry employs over 3 million workers, and accounts for about a fifth of the country’s GDP, according to the lobby body Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI). Though the Philippines lacks the cachet of powerhouses Taiwan or South Korea, it was recently thrust onto the world stage after it was named as one of the beneficiaries of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act.
To meet growing demand and move into more specialized areas such as integrated circuit design and fabrication, Philippine authorities aim to produce 128,000 engineers and skilled technicians by 2028. Some of the funds should also be used to upskill the existing workforce, Krista Yu, an industrial economics expert at De La Salle University, told Rest of World. “Most of the tasks done now, like assembly, are very susceptible to automation.”
Workers are already feeling the impact: At the Philippine unit of Nexperia, a Dutch chipmaker owned by Chinese company Wingtech Technology, about 500 workers have been laid off since September 2023. The company, which makes basic semiconductors such as diodes and transistors, cited poor market conditions and a move toward greater efficiency. Workers say the layoffs were a result of increased automation at the plant.
