INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (IC) design solutions company Xinyx Design said it is looking to open an office in the Visayas to broaden the pool of IC designers.
“We need to work on the foundation and make sure the ecosystem is present and visible for companies around the world to say, ‘Okay, the Philippines is good to invest in,’” Christine Gojar, corporate communications executive at Xinyx Design, told BusinessWorld.
“We’re planning to expand in Visayas, but we’re not sure when because we’re still focused on curriculum development with the schools,” she said. “We’re looking at Cebu and Iloilo.”
Xinyx Design was established in 2009 with 10 engineers. The company is one of the biggest fabless IC design houses in Southeast Asia with about 400 engineers.
“We’ve really been growing exponentially just because of the demand, and we’re (running out of) people to hire, and that’s why we’ve been focusing on going to the schools and trying to get students interested in microelectronics,” Ms. Gojar said.
However, she said finding interested prospects requires a clearing up of misconceptions about the semiconductor industry.
“When (students) hear about semiconductors, they think they’re going to work at a factory,” Ms. Gojar said.
Last week, the company teamed up with Colegio de Muntinlupa to launch LABS by Xinyx, the first flexible learning platform catering to IC design and microelectronics.
The company is looking to train 1,000 students annually through LABS by Xinyx.
The Campus Connect Program, which Xinyx launched in 2018, aims to help students enter the microelectronics industry through internships and scholarships.
The company has worked with schools such as the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, Colegio de Muntinlupa, De La Salle University, Technological University of the Philippines – Manila, and Batangas State University.
“The target really is to convince the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) high school students to take up electronics engineering or computer engineering when they get to college, and to get the undergraduates interested in IC design and take up a microelectronics specialization,” Ms. Gojar said.
Electronic products were the Philippines’ top commodity export last year, accounting for 53.4% of the total. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz