By HENRY E. EMPEÑO |

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The entry of another manufacturer at the Japanese-owned Subic Techno Park (STP) here has marked a resurgence of Japanese investments in the Subic Bay Freeport, which already hosts several high-end operations in manufacturing, industrial services, and information and communication technology.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said Japanese steel company Taiyo Subic Philippines Corporation has committed P392.5 million in investments to produce gear parts for industrial robots and specialty steel products for other companies here and abroad.

The firm, a subsidiary of Japanese integrated special steel trading firm Taiyo Shoji Co., Ltd., was established here in February and has leased a 6,200-square meter facility for its operations.

Eisma said that this January, Nidec Shimpo, a sister company of Nidec Subic, another Japanese company at the STP that produces spindle motors for hard disk drives, has started operations for an entirely new product line for super-silent speed reducers.

This was followed in March by the opening of a research and product development facility also at STP by Japanese technology firm Sanyo Denki Philippines, Inc., which already operates three factories here to produce uninterrupted power system (UPS), cooling fans, servo amplifiers and stepping motors.

The entry of Taiyo, Eisma noted, “only goes to show the continuing confidence among Japanese investor-companies in Subic.”

According to its business plan, Taiyo will engage in the business of importation and exportation of special steel materials, and manufacturing of parts for use in the automobile industry, industrial machineries, plant machineries, and information technology.

With its P392.5-million fund, it plans to devote P142.5 million for the construction of its own factory at the STP, import materials from Taiyo Japan and specialty steel manufacturer Daido Steel Co. of Japan,  refine these materials, and thereafter supply precision materials and gear parts to other companies.

The firm specifically targets Subic Nidec, which it plans to supply with 100,000 units of speed reducers per month by March 2020.

The Japanese-controlled Subic Techno Park is now home to high-technology Japanese manufacturers like Nidec and Sanyo Denki, ATM manufacturer Hitachi Terminals Mechatronics, industrial services and equipment provider Juken Sangyo, and ultrasonic transducers and sensors maker Nicera Philippines.

Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda said during the Nidec Shimpo inauguration last month that the new Japanese investments indicate “the continuing Japanese investor confidence in the Philippines’ business potential.”