Taiwan Looks to Expand Factory Work in the Philippines

FTZ News: A Taiwanese brake maker already operating in the Philippines is looking to add capacity. An electric-bus company is studying a plant. Other firms are making similar checks. Taipei has been trying to steer more of its manufacturers toward industrial sites in Luzon by tying its own economic plans to projects already under way there.

Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on September 15 that Taiwan had proposed connecting its economic corridor with the Philippines to the Luzon Economic Corridor, according to the Daily Tribune. The Luzon corridor is a joint effort by the Philippines, the United States and Japan aimed at building infrastructure and drawing industrial investment. Officials on both sides said the link could help supply chains and raise trade. Taiwan produces a large share of the world’s semiconductors. The Philippines already has sizable electronics plants.

The effort began last year. In August 2025 a Taiwanese trade group visited the Philippines. Companies from semiconductors, electronics, energy and agriculture were on the trip. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said the visit was meant to bring the two corridors closer together.

Philippine officials have increased their own outreach. In February the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and AyalaLand Logistics Holdings held a meeting in Taipei. More than 70 investors attended. The Philippine side showed industrial parks that already have finished factories available for lease and land where plants can be built to order. Discussions covered land leases, power and water costs, and the roads and utilities inside the zones. PEZA also met Elig Brake Technologies, a company that makes brakes for cars and factories and already has operations in the Philippines. The firm said it was interested in adding research work and more production lines.

A second group went to Taipei in March. More than 100 people attended a Philippine investment session. PEZA said it spoke with an electric-bus maker considering a Philippine factory and a food company looking at a plant inside an economic zone. Neither project has been announced as final. On the same trip PEZA signed an agreement with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office to help promote investment and connect businesses.

Taiwanese companies have manufactured in the Philippines for decades. Workers at an Acer plant in Subic Bay were assembling computers in 1996. Officials in Taipei are now trying to expand that activity through the proposed corridor link./.