Leaders

ELECTRONICS
Coto Contract Manufacturing, Mexicali.
one of Mexico City’s best hotels while
he was holding meetings in the capital, a
change of scenery from the El Paso-Juarez
region where Taiwanese-owned Foxconn’s
Mexico operation is based and which is,
incidentally, home to Mr. Uranga.
Pancho had declared on the telephone
that while your narrator may hold the
advantage over him in terms of height, he
was certain he had more grey hairs. He was
right, by a whisker.
We sat down over coffees and the fast
talking businessman launched into an overview
of the electronics industry in Mexico.
He said: “We have a lot of opportunities
and I think it is time for the electronics
industry in Mexico to get creative and
innovative. I don’t think we have done
enough to attract new investment into the
electronics market.”
“Asia – and by Asia I mean Japan,
Taiwan, South Korea and now China as
well as India and, more and more, Singapore
and Indonesia – has become very
competitive in the electronics market and
if we don’t do more in Mexico, we stand
the risk of becoming nothing more than a
large assembly plant.”
“But we have great opportunities because
electronics is not just computers. It
also involves all the equipment needed in
the automotive and aerospace industries
too.”
“Unfortunately, our policy so far has
not connected those dots and to do that
we need to be aggressive and create new
tax policies. The problem is that those of
us that don’t evade taxes are constrained
in a little bubble and all the authorities do
is continue to try and get more money out
of those that do pay taxes rather than from
those that don’t.”
He continued: “My hope is that we’re
beginning to wake up and that there will
be a reaction from the Government that
is beneficial to the electronics industry.
I don’t care if it’s a slow reaction just as
long as there is a reaction of some kind.”
“I really hope that the Mexican Government
will develop a program for electronics
similar to the program created 25 years
ago for the automotive industry. One that
will enable the electronics sector to make a
mark on the global map just as the automotive
sector has done.”
“Strong backing from the Government
is a must if the electronics sector in Mexico
is to recover. I would look on it as a strategic
partnership and that partnership has
already worked well with this Administration’s
Constitutional Reforms.”
MAY - JUNE 2016 MEXICONOW 49