Megawide enters data center business

MANILA, Philippines — Armed with a huge war chest with the sale of a portion of its stake  in the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to the Aboitiz Group, Megawide Corp. will initially invest around P7 billion to expand into the data center business.

Megawide chairman Edgar Saavedra said the company’s first  data center would be in Cavite with a capacity of up to 30 megawatts. It is targeted to be launched within the first quarter.

“We’re expanding into new businesses such as data centers,” Saavedra said.

A data center is a facility that provides shared access to applications and data using a complex network, computer, and storage infrastructure.

Such data center facilities help ensure the data is both secure and highly available.

This type of business has grown especially popular during the pandemic when internet use grew exponentially.

Real estate consultants JLL Philippines estimates that current total capacity in the Philippines is approximately 96 MW and may triple in the next few years as more data center players are expected to enter and expand their footprint in the country.

Industrial parks are ideal locations for data centers because of their power capacity that can support data centers’ electricity requirements.

Upcoming data centers located inside industrial parks include YCO Cloud Centers in Light Industry and Science Park 4 in Batangas and Dito Telecommunity in Clark Global City in Pampanga.

Saavedra said Megawide is strengthening its portfolio toward more cycle-resilient, scalable, and higher growth segments including digital infrastructure such as data centers.

Last year, Megawide sold a 33 percent stake in MCIA for P9.5 billion.

In 2020, Megawide, together with two South Korean firms, won the contract to build the first phase of the Malolos-Clark railway project.

Last May, Megawide also received the go signal to construct two stations, namely, Ortigas North and Ortigas South, for the Metro Manila Subway.