Dominican Republic pitches itself as a nearshoring hub

[Dolores]

The Dominican Republic is making a strong push to become a leading destination for the global semiconductor and printed circuit board industry, Industry, Commerce, and SMEs Minister Víctor (Ito) Bisonó told participants in the World Strategic Forum on 11 December 2024 at the Florida International University in Coral Gables, Miami.

Speaking at the World Strategic Forum, Bisonó highlighted the country’s strategic location, robust infrastructure, and skilled workforce as key advantages for foreign investors. “We are the ideal bridge between the Americas and the rest of the world, leveraging our competitive advantages and world-class connectivity,” he said.

To bolster this ambition, President Luis Abinader recently signed Decree 324-24, declaring the promotion, innovation, and development of the semiconductor industry a national priority.

During the event, Bisonó underscored the...

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[chico bill]

And I'm Brad Pitt's twin

 

[JD Jones]

And I'm Brad Pitt's twin

Well I'll be gosh darned. I learn something new every day.

 

[RDKNIGHT]

they should make a strong pitch on teaching people respect for others and driving properly

 

[windeguy]

Making corn chips is one thing, computer chips is quite another. I do hope they can figure out a way for this to happen.
Attracting the talent capable of doing so, building ultra clean rooms, keeping the power on, etc...

I have severe doubts it will, but let's see if there is any real interest from those who an make it happen.

Maquiladoras to assemble products is perhaps a more feasible option of the two.

 

[PJT]

The DR's close location to the US facilitates quick shipment of semiconductors and circuit boards manufactured in the DR. It is quite conceivable a US Miami buyer of the products can have them in house within 36 hours of an order if all is prepared and executed well. This includes order and export doc. processing, surface transport to Dominican airport, DR Customs approval, International air transport, US Customs clearance, transit to buyer's location. and delivery.

It is a no-brainer. The DR has to jump upon this opportunity, there are millions of $ to be made.

Regards,

PJT

 

[windeguy]

PJT, the DR has put forward its desire to be a place to make chips and assemble PC boards, electronics stuff. Electronic design and manufaturing areas I have worked in personally, and then moved into sales for such products. I was never involved in chip design, but had colleagues that were in that business back in California. Used to play raquetball and play in bands with some of those very sharp individuals. My neighbors worked making chip fabrication machines.

The DR wanting to do it is one thing. It is quite a step for companies who need such products to make massive investments.

A semiconductor fab location is very expensive, time consuming and requires some very high end engineering.
And it will mostly be automated, so will that mean a large employee base is needed?
The USA has a hard time building chip fab plants to replace Tawain Semiconductor TSMC ( The DR? )

Making and assembling PC boards is not nearly as difficult. Perhaps the DR should walk before it tries to run.

 

[Big]

The island currently manufactures many crucial medical components. This is just another product they can produce. The Pres is doing a fine job. MDRGA, Make Dom Rep great again.

 

[Big]

PJT, the DR has put forward its desire to be a place to make chips and assemble PC boards, electronics stuff. Electronic design and manufaturing areas I have worked in personally, and then moved into sales for such products. I was never involved in chip design, but had colleagues that were in that business back in California. Used to play raquetball and play in bands with some of those very sharp individuals. My neighbors worked making chip fabrication machines.

The DR wanting to do it is one thing. It is quite a step for companies who need such products to make massive investments.

A semiconductor fab location is very expensive, time consuming and requires some very high end engineering.
And it will mostly be automated, so will that mean a large employee base is needed?
The USA has a hard time building chip fab plants to replace Tawain Semiconductor TSMC ( The DR? )

Making and assembling PC boards is not nearly as difficult. Perhaps the DR should walk before it tries to run.

pickle ball and gig bands, you do live on the edge!

 

[windeguy]

pickle ball and gig bands, you do live on the edge!

I never played pickle ball. Raquetball and tennis , baseball and softball through the years.
I did play many festivals in the San Francisco Bay area in front of thousands of people at a time.
(and we didn't have a tip jar)...

I understand the electronics market. I have my degrees in electronic engineering and design and spent my working career in that field from design, manufacturing and then sales and marketing before I retired to the DR.

The DR pitching a semiconductor manufacturing plant makes me smile. Good luck wit dat!

 

[jaguar86]

I never played pickle ball. Raquetball and tennis , baseball and softball through the years.
I did play many festivals in the San Francisco Bay area in front of thousands of people at a time.
(and we didn't have a tip jar)...

I understand the electronics market. I have my degrees in electronic engineering and design and spent my working career in that field from design, manufacturing and then sales and marketing before I retired to the DR.

The DR pitching a semiconductor manufacturing plant makes me smile. Good luck wit dat!

I heard someone in the radio talking about it. They won't be making actual semiconductors (final product), but instead focus on manufacturing semiconductor components such as lenses, mirrors, sensors, and other items. They can also manufacture the packaging.

They already have experience with electrical components. A circuit breaker I bought a year ago in Massachusetts said made in Dominican Republic.

 

[JD Jones]

PJT, the DR has put forward its desire to be a place to make chips and assemble PC boards, electronics stuff. Electronic design and manufaturing areas I have worked in personally, and then moved into sales for such products. I was never involved in chip design, but had colleagues that were in that business back in California. Used to play raquetball and play in bands with some of those very sharp individuals. My neighbors worked making chip fabrication machines.

The DR wanting to do it is one thing. It is quite a step for companies who need such products to make massive investments.

A semiconductor fab location is very expensive, time consuming and requires some very high end engineering.
And it will mostly be automated, so will that mean a large employee base is needed?
The USA has a hard time building chip fab plants to replace Tawain Semiconductor TSMC ( The DR? )

Making and assembling PC boards is not nearly as difficult. Perhaps the DR should walk before it tries to run.

I was the Operations Manager for an Electronics company for over 10 years. Over 1800 employees with a turnover of less than 4%.

I had 26 planners using a modified ORACLE platform for JIT manufacturing with assembly cells of thousands of SKU's.

We did winding and transformer production, stuffing PC boards, wave soldering machines, Ultrasonic welding, final assembly of components among other things.

Our warehouse managed thousands of part numbers with better than 99.99% accuracy and did 100% testing on everything shipped out the door.

No chip design or fabrication however.

 

[CristoRey]

I've been working in the "nearshoring industry" in this country over ten years now.
Please define "skilled workforce".

 

[Big]

I never played pickle ball. Raquetball and tennis , baseball and softball through the years.
I did play many festivals in the San Francisco Bay area in front of thousands of people at a time.
(and we didn't have a tip jar)...

I understand the electronics market. I have my degrees in electronic engineering and design and spent my working career in that field from design, manufacturing and then sales and marketing before I retired to the DR.

The DR pitching a semiconductor manufacturing plant makes me smile. Good luck wit dat!

Well Sir wind. You playing bongos in Haight-Ashbury San Fran certainly is telling. Did you also wear a Dashiki with a matching headband?

 

[johne]

Makes you wonder who wrote that talk. I concur on "location", but " robust infrastructure" and "skilled workforce" ? If those words were used in a stock offering they would go to jail for fraud.

 

[DrNoob]

@windeguy I think you might be thinking of very high-end fabs like TSMC with EUV machines from ASML but the DR might be pitching for the older tech ones, like used in cars and other machinery rather than the latest generation CPUs/GPUs. The article is not very clear.

That said, they might have ambition but they might have to do many things to get people to even think about investing here. Tax breaks, steady supply of electricity, cleaner water, reasonable protection from natural disasters, security from industrial espionage (due to DR's relationship with China). They might do assembly but there are plenty of other non-Chinese locations with existing supply chains, so this might require a miracle.

May be they are trying to get their foot in the door for this particular industry. Politicians do have to say this type of things at these conferences, whether they themselves believe it or not. Points for trying, to this minister.