Visiting United States Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken said the “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors” or CHIPS and Science Act will fortify the already strong ties between the Philippines and the US in the semiconductor industry.

Blinken made the statement during his visit Tuesday to Amkor Technology Philippines, Inc. in Muntinlupa City, a semiconductor packaging and test services venture of American and Korean firms.

“There’s a long standing partnership between the Philippines and United States when it comes to semiconductors,” Blinken said. “We continue to look for ways to strengthen more our partnership between our countries.”

Under the CHIPS Act, the Philippines stands to benefit from the USD500-million International Technology, Security, and Innovation Fund for a five-year period.

The CHIPS Act supports the diversification of supply chain of US companies with rich natural resources and are strong allies of the US government.

Blinken noted that under the CHIPS Act, the State Department is responsible for further investments in partner countries like the Philippines, especially in capacity building such as developing the workforce and crafting policies that will attract investments from US companies.

Blinken said one of the projects they are looking into under the CHIPS Act is to partner with state universities in the country.

Earlier, the Department of Trade and Industry said it is eyeing to produce 128,000 engineers to support the local semiconductor industry using the support from the US under the CHIPS Act.

“I think you’ve already seen the extraordinary work that’s happening here in the Philippines, but I think the potential is even greater going forward, and it’s one that the United States continues to invest in and to focus on,” the US State Secretary added.

The US official also emphasized the country’s strong semiconductor industry, which employs around three million Filipinos, sharing 20 percent of the total export revenues, and contributing 12 percent to the gross domestic product.

Blinken is the second White House official to be received by the country in one week.

On March 11 and 12, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo visited Manila, bringing over USD1 billion investments from American companies.

Blinken’s visit to the country also affirmed the US support to the Philippines in the security and economic front.

This is his second official visit to the Philippines after August 2022. (PNA)