Philippines: Could it be the Asia Pacific region’s next data centre hub?

The Philippines now ranks second in Southeast Asia in terms of growth in the data centre market, with Manila having a CAGR of 14.2 percent

The pandemic has helped data centres grow exponentially — smart cities, the demand for faster internet, cashless transactions, and the adoption of cloud technology have accelerated.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Philippines now ranks second in Southeast Asia in terms of growth in the data centre market, with Manila having a CAGR of 14.2 percent, just below Vietnam’s 14.5 percent.

Several factors come into mind when thinking of why companies tend to invest and grow their data centre portfolios.

First, cloud spending among enterprises in the Philippines is expected to grow from USD1.8 billion to USD2.6 billion in 2024. Next would be the country’s renewable energy readiness, its talent pool and lastly, its ready infrastructure support.

More: The Philippines gears up for an influx of data centre developments

In a report by INQUIRER.net Beeinfotech PH mentioned that the data centre market in the country would experience a CAGR of 11.40 percent by 2026, reaching investments of at least USD535 million.

It recently opened its USD100-million data centre in Pasig City. The Hive, first announced last August, is a telco-neutral facility with at least 3,000 server racks.

PLDT started the construction of its 11th and largest hyperscale data centre, VITRO Sta. Rosa. The five-hectare property is located within the Sta. Rosa CBD. It has a power capacity of 100MW. The facility is Tier3 certified as well as Tier-4 ready.

The company has partnered with RED Engineering, a leading provider in green infrastructure design and engineering.

Globe also announced its latest venture with ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) and Ayala Corporation (AC). The USD350-million deal involves both STT GDC and Ayala subscribing to new shares in KarmanEdge, Inc. 

The KarmanEdge unit, according to Globe, “will house the carved-out data center business, which has the potential to expand by up to 100-MW (megawatts) capacity in the mid to long term.”

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].