An Integrated Circuit Design Laboratory (ICDL) will open at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) complex in Taguig City.
The project proposal will be submitted by the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) for a DOST Grants-in-Aid funding.
The proposal, included in SEIPI’s electronics industry roadmap called the Product and Technology Holistic Strategy, was revealed during SEIPI’s Q3 General Membership Meeting yesterday, SEIPI’s first in-person event in over two years.
SEIPI is the largest organization of foreign and Filipino electronics companies in the Philippines.
The Philippine semiconductor and electronics industry is the country’s top commodity exporter.
Based on the latest data from the Philippines Statistics Authority as of July 2022, the cumulative electronics exports reached US$26.51 billion, a 1.9 percent increase from last year’s figures.
This was 59.25 percent of the US$ 44.74 billion total Philippine commodity exports.
The project ICDL proposal will tiein with a Lab Scale Wafer Fabrication Facility.
The aim is to enhance integrated circuit design training and capacitate semiconductor device fabrication in the country.
The ICDL will leverage on the experience of SEIPI to expand local capabilities for integrated circuit design.
The ICDL will complement DOST’s Center for Integrated Circuits and Devices Research, the DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute, and the DOST Industrial Technology Development Institute.
All of these will strengthen the country’s competitiveness in the integrated circuit design and semiconductor technology development, said Dan Lachica, SEIPI president.
SEIPI’s Integrated Circuit Design Technical Working Group will develop courses for manpower upskillingand choose the appropriate Electronic Design Automation tool for the ICDL, taking into consideration the specific applications identified by the collaborating SEIPI member-companies and universities.
The technical working group (TWG) is composed of semiconductor and electronics companies and universities working together to address issues in the integrated circuit industry, including the development of the country’s talent pool and access to design tools.
