MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine electronics industry attracted $2.477 billion in fresh investments in 2011, the highest ever, and the new projects are expected to generate an estimated $5 billion in additional export revenues annually once they go into full commercial operation.

“Our rule of thumb is every $1 of investment generates $2 in additional exports,” Ernie Santiago, president of Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc. (Seipi), said.

Seipi, he said, is hoping that this development signals the start of a good year or “a snapback of our industry.”

Santiago noted that electronics investments were heavy in the last two months of 2011 at $1.877 billion.

Among the notable projects that were registered are those of Canon Business Machine (Philippines) Inc., P20.55 Billion; Amkor Technology Philippines Inc., P12.89 billion; Ti (Philippines) Inc., P12.668 billion; Ibiden Philippines Inc., P3.824 billion; Nidec Philippines Corp., P3.433 billion; Sunpower Philippines Manufacturing Ltd., P3.247 billion; Analog Devices Gen. Trias Inc., P3.154 billion; Philippine Manufacturing Co. of Murata Inc., P2.994 billion; Samsung Electro-Mechanics Philippines Corp., P2.184 billion; Aruze G.A. Philippines Branch, P1.273 billion; and Tong Hsing Electronics (Philippines) Inc., P1.054 billion.

“Everybody is expecting a good year this year so everybody is now moving,” Santiago said.

He said the $2.477 billion is the highest ever recorded in the industry’s history; it was also the 8th time the industry exceeded $1 billion in a year.

This was also the second straight year that the industry exceeded the $2-billion mark.

The fresh capital infusions were registered by 178 companies.

Of these, 31 are new entrants/companies, including Canon. The new entrants registered $721 million in investments.

Canon’s project involves the manufacturing of monochrome laser beam printer and parts and will employ 5,000 individuals.

The rest of the investments are expansion/new export projects worth $ 1.7 billion.

Santiago said it is expected that 35,358 new direct jobs will be created out of these fresh investments. Also, for every one direct job, seven indirect jobs are expected to be created or additional 250,000.

In 2010, the industry recorded $2.27 billion in fresh investments. The only other year that the electronics industry attracted more than $2 billion in investments was in 1995 at $2.16 billion.