Data center projects targeted to enable more infotech activity

INVESTMENT promotion agencies (IPAs) are looking to register more data center projects, saying that such infrastructure will enable more information technology (IT)-related activities.

“Data centers and telecommunications infrastructure are on the list of Board of Investments (BoI) priority sectors along with renewable energy, electric vehicles, and green metals,” BoI Director for Infrastructure and Services Industries Service Mary Ann E. Raganit told reporters on Wednesday.

So far, the BoI has approved the registration of four data center projects, which have a total project cost of P40.14 billion and 81 megawatts (MW) of IT load capacity.

These include the recently launched VITRO Sta. Rosa, the country’s first hyperscale data center equipped to support artificial intelligence workloads.

Located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, the 50-MW data center is being developed by VITRO, Inc., a subsidiary of ePLDT.

“Next management committee (meeting), I will present the two data center projects of Globe STT GDC, Inc., which are in Fairview and Cavite,” she added.

According to the BoI, Globe STT GDC is applying as an operator of telecommunication infrastructure under Tier I of the 2022 Strategic Investment Priority Plan.

The application covers the company’s STT Cavite 2 Data Center, which has a 6 MW capacity and 916 racks, and STT Fairview 1 Data Center, which has a 28 MW capacity and 4,200 racks.

According to Globe Telecom, Inc., the projects will be ready for service within the year.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is also registering data center projects.

To date, PEZA has registered four data center projects involving P3.96 billion worth of investment.

These projects are Accenture, Inc., Alorica Teleservices, Inc., Foundever Asia, Inc., and YCO Cloud Malvar, Inc.

PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga said that he is also looking forward to the registration of a data center project from a US firm.

“It is a priority sector because if you invite data storage facilities, that will invite more IT companies that require a lot of storage,” he said in an interview.

“So, it will be a plus to the Philippines especially for economic sources as we will attract more information technology and business process management-related activities,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile