Several US companies have expressed interest to invest further in the Philippines, taking advantage of the incentives brought forth by recently enacted laws that liberalized foreign investments. Philippines’ economic, trade and industry officials held talks with several US companies during their recent visit to Washington, DC.
The US companies that they had discussions with are the following:
- FedEx discussed the logistics firm’s expansion plans in the Philippines. It was noted that in 2020, FedEx made a comeback to the Philippines after investing $30 million to open a 17,000-square-meter gateway facility in Clark Freeport Zone. In particular, FedEx aims to expand their operations in Clark and increase the facility’s capacity by 5 times. FedEx plans to make the facility a transshipment hub where packages will be sorted out before flying them to different locations without having to pass through the BoC.
- Diode Ventures LLC, (a partnership between ENDECGROUP, Inc. and Black & Veatch) an infrastructure developer for the commercial, industrial, and technology sectors, also expressed interest. The company plans to open specifically 2 hyperscale data centers and solar energy projects as their initial projects.
- Missouri-based ZAF Energy Systems and its affiliate Battery Grade Materials are companies that develop high-performance batteries. They are planning to invest in and establish a hydroxide processing plant and battery manufacturing facility in the Philippines. The companies are already in partnership with Philippine nickel miners and are searching for additional suppliers to produce nickel hydroxide in the Philippines.
- The government also welcomes SBA Communication’s plans to expand in the country. In March 2021, Florida-based SBA Communications has started operations in the Philippines by building telecommunication towers and constructing 180 towers in 2022. For its expansion, the company intends to put up a total of 1,470 tower structures within the next five years.
(Source: Philippine News Agency, The Manila Times)