Data centers seen to boom this year

MANILA, Philippines — A unit of Globe Telecom Inc. said the data center business in the Philippines would boom this year in response to the growing demand for information storage worldwide.

Citing industry estimates, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers (STT GDC) Philippines said it anticipates a spike in data center usage this year, as consumers shift most of their activities online.

Based on a Bloomberg forecast, the data center industry will expand by an average of 15 percent every year from 2022 until it reaches a valuation of $89.3 billion in 2030.

As such, STT GDC Philippines president and CEO Carlo Malana said the country should gear up to capture the growing demand for data centers as he noted that the Philippines has what it takes to be a regional hub for information storage.

“By 2024 and beyond, we can only expect demand for data storage to grow even faster, and that is why STT GDC Philippines is bulking up on capacity to service these needs not just locally, but also regionally. We are so strategically located that we can become the next regional data center hub,” Malana said.

STT GDC Philippines operates five facilities for data storage in Cavite, Makati City and Quezon City, generating a combined capacity of 22 megawatts.

The company will expand its footprint in the next three years, and it is set to begin construction for two facilities this year.

In 2023, STT GDC Philippines began development for the biggest data center in the Philippines, a $1-billion, 124-megawatt facility in Quezon City.

The company hopes to complete that data center by 2026, as it is expected to play a crucial role in turning the Philippines into a regional powerhouse. Further, the facility will cater to the needs of both enterprises and hyperscalers trying to keep up with the shift to online.

Hyperscalers refer to tech giants like Amazon, Google and Meta who are always on the lookout for new spaces where they can store their applications and information. In general, the country is eyeing to attract these hyperscalers to make investments here through data centers.

A survey commissioned by Alibaba Cloud reported that 85 percent of Philippine businesses would transfer most, if not all, of their systems online to maximize gains from the digital migration.

This development will fuel the rise of artificial intelligence, a shift to remote work and a spike in online transactions, all of which will require the use and storage of data.