AT least 20 firms have expressed interest in investing in the first artificial intelligence-native industrial hub in New Clark City, a United States government official said on Monday.
“Every single company who’s here is interested in potentially being a part of this historic effort... Several of them are over a billion-dollar companies,” United States Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg told reporters during his visit to Clark.
The investment site is a 4,000-acre industrial zone in the Luzon Economic Corridor and a key location for Pax Silica — the US State Department’s flagship program on AI and supply chain security, with Australia, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom as initial co-signatories.
Other signatories are Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Sweden, Greece, India, and the Philippines.
Helberg’s visit brought together representatives from the US government, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and other Pax Silica stakeholders.
In a separate interview, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said five US companies and five Middle East-based firms have also confirmed plans to invest “in areas adjacent to the 4,000-acre hub, as far as Calabarzon.”
Three are Israeli companies and two are from Dubai, Rodolfo said, noting that the firms are engaged in robotics, electronics, manufacturing, AI training and education, power, renewable energy, and water management systems.
Helberg, Rodolfo, and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and CEO Joshua Bingcang unveiled a marker at the proposed Pax Silica site.
“With the signing of the document in Washington and today’s trip, we’re entering the first step... negotiating a long-term arrangement for the land, as well as determining the build-out and the industries and sectors that will ultimately be prioritized,” Helberg said.
The site will serve as a platform for allied manufacturing.
Pax Silica will also tap the Philippines’ reserves of nickel, copper, chromite, and cobalt — minerals critical to global supply chains for AI-enabled industries.
The BCDA will approve the concept plan for the project and provide support to manufacturing firms that will locate in the hub, Bingcang said, adding that two Philippine laws will govern the arrangement: the Investors’ Lease Act and the BCDA law.
“It will be treated as a regular business development contract, no special treatment to be accorded to the US,” Bingcang said.
