Toshiba Corp. is preparing a major three-year expansion of its hard disk drive manufacturing operations in the Philippines, potentially adding 3,000 jobs as rising demand for data storage strengthens the country’s role in the global technology supply chain.
The planned investment will focus on nearline hard disk drives (NL-HDDs), high-capacity storage products widely used by data centers and enterprise customers as demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other data-intensive applications accelerates.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said it is working with Toshiba on the proposed expansion, including discussions on incentives under the CREATE MORE Law and other government support available for highly desirable investments.
Toshiba has operated in PEZA economic zones since 1995 and currently has two manufacturing sites in Laguna, located at the Laguna Technopark Special Economic Zone and Carmelray Industrial Park Special Economic Zone.
Its Philippine operations manufacture and assemble hard disk drives, enterprise solid-state drives and advanced helium-filled HDDs, while also providing engineering and design services, rework and printed circuit board assembly.
“The Philippines has been an important part of Toshiba’s manufacturing operations for more than three decades,” Toshiba Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya said, reaffirming the company’s commitment to expanding its local footprint.
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the project could generate additional exports while creating opportunities for Filipino workers and domestic suppliers. Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said the government is prepared to support the investment.
For Toshiba, the expansion would provide additional capacity in a market benefiting from structural growth in data generation and storage, while for the Philippines it could deepen an established manufacturing base in a strategically important technology segment.
