E-commerce demand raises interest in PH data centers
Business leaders are setting their eyes on the Philippines as a site for data center expansions in anticipation of heightened e-commerce demand.
Lockdowns and restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased online purchases from consumers staying and working from home.
“Some companies now in the Philippines are in the process of building mega-data centers in Manila, in the Philippines — anticipating the surge in demand for data-driven by increased e-commerce activities,” said Roderick Danao, vice-chairman and assurance managing partner for PwC Philippines.
Businesses that plan to build data centers in the country include Converge ICT Solutions, which announced that it would construct a P1-billion data center in Cebu, and Alibaba Cloud, which plans to start building its first data center by the end of 2021.
“We’re building mega-data centers primarily because a lot of these international platform providers are actually coming into the Philippines providing e-commerce solutions and other digital related solutions,” said John Gonzales, vice-president and head for enterprise digital solutions at PLDT Enterprise.
