The Philippines is counting on the world’s shift to green technology and demand induced by the COVID-19 pandemic for data centers to boost investments in its mining industry, a top official said.
The end of a ban on new mining permits also positions the sector to attract funds for a shift toward processing instead of simply exporting ores, said Philippine Industry Development and Trade Policy Group Undersecretary Perry Rodolfo, who is also managing head of the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI).
The BOI separately aims to win about 1 trillion pesos (US$19.1 billion) in investment commitments from home and abroad this year, up 50 percent from last year.
“The Philippines is blessed when it comes to very critical minerals that are needed by everyone as we shift towards a more digitalized and greener world,” Rodolfo said in an interview on Friday, commenting on the demand for nickel, copper and cobalt.
“The next key thing is to really make sure that they are processed here and we add value prior to exporting them,” he said.
The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s second-biggest producer of nickel. The aim is to locally process ore into “precursors” for a wide array of products, including batteries used to power data centers and electric vehicles.
The plan fits well with the government’s move to promote investments in hyperscaler data centers that use big batteries. Economic managers recently ordered that the 40 percent foreign equity restrictions on solar, wind and tidal renewable energy projects be removed.
Firms planning data centers “have to use renewable energy. Otherwise, they will just be competing with other sectors in the Philippines for power,” Rodolfo said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose six-year term ends on June 30, last week signed a strategic investment priority plan which lists activities such as environment and climate change-related projects eligible for tax incentives.
Rodolfo is optimistic that investors would continue coming in when Philippine president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr takes power.
“Each administration builds on the reform efforts of the past administration,” he said.
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
HON HAI LURKS: The ‘Nikkei’ reported that Foxconn’s interest in Nissan accelerated the Honda-merger effort out of fears it might be taken over by the Taiwanese firm Nissan Motor Co has become the latest buyout target in Japan as it explores a merger with Honda Motor Co and faces an overture from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally. Shares in Nissan yesterday jumped 24 percent, the most on record, to hit the daily limit, after the two Japanese automakers acknowledged that talks are ongoing to better position themselves for competitive challenges during a time of upheaval in the global auto industry. Foxconn — a Taipei-based manufacturer of iPhones, which has been investing heavily in factories to build electric vehicles — has also
CHIP SUBSIDY: The US funding would help alleviate the financial pressure from building two fabs in the US and should lift gross margins in 2026, the company said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it is to receive US$406 million in subsidies from the US Department of Commerce for two new US fabs under the CHIPS and Science Act, with the first batch of the funds likely coming next year. The grant represents 10 percent of the planned investments of US$4 billion in advanced semiconductor wafer manufacturing facilities in Texas and Missouri, GlobalWafers said. The commerce department is to disburse the funds based on the completion of project milestones over a multiyear timeframe, the company said. Along with the tax credit, which is equal to
RSS