Manila poised to join Asia’s top data center destinations
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The country’s capital is seen to join Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo as a choice data center destination, according to real estate consulting firm Santos Knight Frank (SKF).
SKF underscored the country’s increasing digital consumption and the government’s support for the industry.
Rick Santos, SKF’s chairman and chief executive officer, said that with the information technology (IT) capacity in Metro Manila pegged at 163 megawatts (MW), the Philippines is a strong contender for hyperscale data centers.
“The country has high digital consumption due to rapid e-commerce adoption and Filipinos being one of the top social media users in the world. Data centers are looking for hubs where most of their users are at, and that’s the Philippines,” Santos said.
Currently, the powerhouses In Asia are Shanghai with a capacity of 1183MW, Singapore with a 1065-MW capacity, and Tokyo with a 998-MW capacity.
With the current ban on data centers in Singapore, Manila can emerge as a new hotspot for data centers given its capacity for IT, land, and engineering-trained talent.
“There’s government support as well, with the Department of Information and Communications Technology encouraging use of the cloud for the development of infrastructure,” Santos noted.
He said the growth in e-commerce and logistics has also created a lot of demand for construction material storage and warehouses, according to the SKF’s analysis. With this, the growth of logistics space outside of the Philippine capital is expected to continue as data centers are built.
Santos added that the expansion of industrial parks in other areas like North Luzon will “benefit the industrial sector.”.
