Toshiba established TIP in July 1995 as a strategic manufacturing base for its fast growing global business in computer-related equipment. The company will play a key role in sustaining Toshiba's position as a leading manufacturer and supplier of CD-ROM drives and hard disk drives (HDDs), and as the leader in portable PCs with more than 20% world market share.

TIPs' state-of-the-art manufacturing facility was completed in September, 1996, at Laguna Technopark in suburbarn Manila, and production started in October, 1996. The company now manufactures HDDs and CD-ROM drives, and the PC motherboars. the elementary core of a PC including the main processor, main memory and peripherals controller.

HDDs and CD-ROM drives manufactured at Laguna will be exported to the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Japan, in support of Toshiba's global marketing and sales of these products. Motherboards will be exported to Toshiba's PC manufacturing plants in Irvine, California; Regensburg, Germany; and Tokyo, Japan, for assembly into Toshiba portable PCs.

Production capacities for the fiscal year starting April 1997 will be 3.4 million 2.5-inch HDD, 6.2 million optical disc drives and 360,000 motherboards. By 1998, capacity will rise to 4 million HDDs, 6.4 million optical disc drives, and 700,000 motherboards. The company is a major employer. In October, 1996, it had 830 employees, a figure which has already climbed to 1,000. With forthcoming capacity increases, this number is expected to rise to 2,200 in 1998.

TIP plans to match the continued growth of Toshiba's information equipment business with an expansion of the new facility. The cumulative investment in the company's facilities, which stood at approximately 1.6 billion pesos (about 6 billion yen) at the end of 1996, is projected to double by 2000, further increasing production capacity and total employment.

While initial production of optical disc drives will concentrate on CD-ROM drives, TIP will also be a key facility for mass-production of DVD-ROM drives, the next-generation, high-density storage medium for personal computers. As a result, TIP's manufacturing capabilities will extend beyond current mainstream peripherals to include cutting-edge products for multimedia.

Company Outline