The Philippine Embassy in Paris in partnership with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Paris (PTIC Paris), co-organized a delegation of French electronics companies from ACSIEL Alliance Electronique that visited the Philippines on 28-30 May 2019. 

ACSIEL officials led by its President Mr. Jean Luc Estienne, timed their visit with the conduct of the Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition (PSECE) held on 30 May – 1 June 2019 at the SMX Convention Center and organized by the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc (SEIPI), whose first-ever Philippine electronics business mission delegates to France were received by ACSIEL at their Paris office on 24 October 2018.

The ACSIEL delegation which represents key players in the electronics supply chain of France, included officials from STMicroelectronics, Atemation and Inventec. They embarked on an exploratory mission to the Philippines to check on the possibilities of forging growth collaboration between their 150 plus members and their Philippine counterparts in the future. 

The visit was also the initial step in a list of 5 pre-identified efforts for further cooperation between ACSIEL and SEIPI, which included 1) the visit of the French electronics association to the PSECE; 2) sharing of information by both electronics groups; 3) the development of trade relations through benchmarking of manufacturing and research and development capabilities; mapping of current equipment and services for electronics boards assembly; identifying synergies, and promotion of each other’s manufacturing and services capabilities; 4) new technologies and competency development; and 5) future consultative endeavors.

Key highlights of the visit of ACSIEL to the Philippines included inspection of government-owned electronics testing facility – the  the Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory or the ADMATEL; electronics manufacturing services plant visits at Ionics and Fastech; a roundtable discussion on inclusive innovation strategy involving the Board of Investments (BOI), the Department of Science and Technology Advance Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), IC Design companies in the Philippines, SEIPI, PTIC-Paris and the French Commercial Office in the Philippines; the attendance of the opening session of the PSECE; and a brief meeting with Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba on the sidelines of the PSECE.

ACSIEL and SEIPI are now exploring the possibility of fulfilling the next steps in their cooperation plans. ♦

Date of Release: 29 May 2019