As hyperscalers continue to expand their reach across Asia Pacific, the Philippines is foreseen to be their next digital destination in the region. According to a Global Data study, the Philippines is becoming one of the most promising hubs in APAC for hyperscale investments due to the country’s favorable business climate, accelerated cloud adoption, demographic shifts to hybrid working, long-term government strategy, and sustainability efforts.
In a recent virtual event entitled Hyperscale Readiness and Capacity Outlook of the Philippines, Jabez Tan, Head of Research for independent research and consulting firm Structure Research, stated that the country is expected to expand its data center capacity exponentially with the recent announcement of new hyperscale facilities designed to cater to the incoming hyperscale demand.
“The Philippine data center colocation market is estimated be worth $134 million this year. The sector will grow steadily at a 25% CAGR through 2027, mostly driven by the hyperscale market,” said Tan. “Time to market is crucial for hyperscalers and the relative unfamiliarity with the market creates operational and logistic challenges that need to be addressed. Local data center operators are quick to build more capacities and enrich their capabilities to address these concerns,” Tan added.
Anticipating the demand, PLDT, through its ICT arm ePLDT, is leading the capacity build with the construction of its 11th and largest hyperscale data center to-date, the VITRO Sta. Rosa. It is the first in a series of data center builds totaling to a power capacity of 100MW. The data center facility is designed to be energy efficient utilizing the latest innovations in cooling and power redundancy, Tier-3 certified and Tier-4 ready, and with the highest level of network diversity and resilience with at least three fiber routes from PLDT and augmented by routes from other carriers.
“We continue to expand our network of data center facilities to serve both the global and local demand that come with the digital adoption and transformation of the country. While we are building our biggest facility yet, with the VITRO Sta. Rosa, we are also augmenting our capacities in existing sites such as VITRO Makati 2, Paranaque and Clark,” said PLDT Enterprise VP & Head of Product Management for the Disruptive Business Group, Amil A. Azurin.
As the country gears up its data center capacity, the need to boost the international network infrastructure that connect to these facilities subsequently follows. Gary F. Ignacio, PLDT Enterprise Vice President and Head of Strategic Business Development Group, explained that the PLDT Group’s latest investment in Jupiter Cable System supplements the upcoming VITRO Sta. Rosa as both world-class infrastructures further reinforce the country’s position as the Asia Pacific’s next hyperscaler hub.
“The Jupiter cable system is now the fastest cable system between the Philippines and the United States. Once fully equipped, it is anticipated to fortify the international cable network diversity for the country and triple PLDT’s existing international network capacity to about 60 Terabit/s while delivering massive global data to PLDT’s network of data centers,” said Ignacio.
“PLDT commits to a rich, world-class hyperscale ecosystem for the Philippines. With the recent landing of the Jupiter cable system in the country and the rise of VITRO Sta. Rosa, we are confident that we are on our way to further enabling more emerging technologies, accelerating the digitization and automation of local and global enterprises, and creating more digital services and content for all Filipinos to enjoy,” Ignacio added. Through the strong collaboration between private and public sectors and the sustained investments in the country’s digital infrastructure, the Philippines’ hyperscale market is expected to grow further in the coming years.
For more information, visit pldtenterprise.com/global.
