Philippine GCCs seen employing 289,000 in 2026
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippines’ global capability center (GCC) workforce is projected to reach 289,000 professionals in 2026, up from 270,000 employed across roughly 200 GCCs in 2025, as multinational companies accelerate the shift of strategic, technology-driven functions to the country.
GCC expansion anchors the Philippines’ IT-BPM growth above base BPO headcount
According to a white paper by Colliers, IBPAP, and ZMG Ward Howell, reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the growth reflects a deliberate expansion into higher-value roles rather than a simple headcount increase in traditional business process outsourcing (BPO) operations.
The Philippines’ broader information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry employed 1.89 million professionals and generated US$40.3 billion in revenue in 2025, with GCCs representing the fastest-growing segment within it. The global GCC market is forecast to grow from US$100 billion in 2024 to US$155 billion by 2027, and the Philippines is positioned to capture an outsized share as the world’s second-largest GCC delivery location, per Everest Group.
GCC functions expanding in the Philippines include finance and accounting, risk and compliance, data analytics, cybersecurity, engineering, healthcare, and digital operations, representing a material shift from the contact-center and back-office work that defined the country’s outsourcing industry in its earlier growth phase.
“The Philippines has moved beyond being primarily a cost-efficient services destination,” said Kevin Jara, director and head of office services, tenant representation at Colliers Philippines.
Philippine GCCs deploy gen AI as hardest-to-hire roles shift to ML and data
About 50% of Philippine GCCs were already experimenting with or deploying generative AI in production as of 2025, according to the white paper.
Business analytics, machine learning (ML), and AI roles are the most difficult to fill across Philippine GCC locations, with ML and AI engineers recording the lowest candidate-to-job ratios of any tracked function.
The convergence of strong generative AI adoption inside GCCs and a tightening supply of ML and AI engineers creates a talent risk that corporate parents must account for when making location decisions, even as the Philippines’ overall talent pool remains the primary draw.
The Colliers, IBPAP, and ZMG Ward Howell white paper attributed outsourcing location decisions to the Philippines’ talent pool, office market depth, and mature business ecosystem rather than cost alone, a characterization that Jara said reflects a fundamental change in how multinational companies view the country’s role in their global operations.
For BPO operators and offshore delivery companies operating in the Philippines, the GCC expansion represents both an opportunity and a competitive pressure.
GCCs housed within the same office parks and talent markets as traditional BPO operations compete directly for the same analytics, engineering, and AI professionals.
As multinationals deepen their GCC commitments through 2026 and beyond, the talent dynamics shaping Philippine IT-BPM delivery will increasingly be set by GCC hiring patterns, not by BPO contract volumes.
Related news
- Philippine IT-BPM targets $42Bn in revenue, 1.97Mn jobs for 2026 · 24 Jun
- GCCs drive Philippine office demand amid slowdown · 15 Jul
Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
Stay ahead of the outsourcing industry. Join thousands of business leaders who rely on Outsource Accelerator for the news, trends, and expert insights that matter. Subscribe to our free newsletter and never miss an update.
