THE DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry is confident sales of the country’s biggest dollar earner, semiconductors, will remain resilient in the near to medium term despite a global slowdown in PC and cell phone sales.

Acting Trade Secretary Thomas Aquino said most chipmakers operating in the country have shifted production to the latest high-technology consumer products.

He said the effects of a slowdown in PC and mobile phone sales on the country would likely be slight since chipmakers here were already making products geared for the next generation of high-technology gadgets whose sales were likely to remain buoyant.

The Philippines is highly dependent on semiconductors for generating foreign exchange as computer chips account for more than 70 percent of the country’s total exports. Electronics grew 6 percent to $22.308 billion in the first 10 months of last year from $21.09 billion during the same period in 1999. The sector’s growth has cooled down significantly from previous years and it remains to be seen whether it can meet its 20-percent growth target to $30 billion for 2000.

``If ever semiconductors exports fall next year, the decline would only be small and we remain optimistic on the industry’s prospects the following year,’’ Aquino said.

Aquino said the gloomy forecast on the semiconductor industry came largely from Wall Street analysts who warned of falling computer chip sales due to a worldwide glut and weak consumer demand particularly in the United States.