SEOUL, 17 July 2014 – A leading Korean semiconductor maker supplying Samsung cited the Philippines’ twin advantages of low cost and high-quality labor as the chief reasons for its running start in the Philippines in 2010, and the main rationale behind its current expansion plans, its senior officials said in a meeting at the Embassy on Thursday, 17 July 2014.

Ambassador Raul S. Hernandez met with top executives of STS Semiconductor and Telecommunications Co., led by its CEO Mr. Byeong-han Jeon, in a meeting together with Special Trade Representative and Commercial Counsellor Nicanor S. Bautista, to present the firm’s expansion plans.

STS Semiconductor is one of the major Korean companies targeted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for its solid expansion potentials in the Philippines. The same executives were met by DTI Secretary Gregory L. Domingo in an investment promotion road show organized by Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) Korea on April 24-27.

CEO Mr Jeon commended the Philippines “for being one the best countries to invest in within the Asia-Pacific region” and expressed interest in expanding its operations in the Clark Freeport Zone “due to lower operating costs and high-quality human resources in the Philippines”, the same advantages behind STS’ behind its successful manufacturing debut in 2010.

Ambassador Hernandez expressed appreciation to STS Semiconductor Co. for investing in the Philippines and for extending humanitarian assistance to victims of Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda) in 2013.

Korea’s leading provider of semiconductor packaging, STS Semiconductor established a Philippine unit, Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corporation (PSPC), in the Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga in January 2010. PSPC currently employs around 1,500 personnel inside its Clark plant.

As a major semi-conductor supplier of Samsung Electronics, STS Semiconductor Co. through its subsidiary PSPC, focuses on meeting Samsung’s integrated circuit (IC) requirements for its electronic products such as personal computers, smartphones, monitors and notebooks.

Last month, PSPC announced plans to expand its output capacity, investing $172 million to build two new facilities in the Clark Freeport Zone to meet an expected surge in demand on the strength of the steady recovery of large markets in North America and Europe from the financial crisis. The expansion will result to an additional employment of some 1,000 workers.

In 2013, PSPC was awarded “Top Exporter” in the Clark Freeport Zone for its exports which amounted to more than 50percentof zone’s total export volume in 2013.