Article by:
Kris Crismundo
MANILA – As the Philippines aims to be a hub for hyperscalers in the Asia Pacific region, a world-class data center will soon rise in Malvar, Batangas.
In an e-mail message Thursday, real estate service firm Santos Knight Frank (SKF) Occupier Solutions and Services Manager for Data Centers Lead Monica Gonzalez told the Philippine News Agency that YCO Cloud Centers (YCC) eyes to invest US$500 million (PHP25.7 billion) in the country over the next three years.
“YCO Cloud Centers is eyeing a total capital deployment of US$500 million over the next three years in multiple projects, beginning with their flagship data center project, YCO Manila Digital 1,” Gonzales said.
YCC is a partnership between JJYnchausti Ventures, Inc., which business focuses on investing in digital infrastructure in the Philippines, and California-based CloudCenters, LCC.
“The Philippines is a leading, dynamic technology and digital hub in the APAC region but underserved in terms of state-of-the-art data center and digital infrastructure,” YCC Chief Executive Officer Nik de Ynchausti said in a statement released early this week.
YCO Manila Digital 1 will be the first of YCC’s carrier-neutral, co-location, and enterprise-scale data centers with a capacity of 12 megawatts.
“The demand for colocation, 5G, internet and cloud services continues to grow rapidly. Our data center will address interest from enterprises seeking to scale their mission-critical workload in the region,” the executive added.
YCC aims to finish the first data hall in the second quarter of next year.
Earlier, Gonzalez said the Philippines has huge potential to be a data center hub in the region with its available raw land. Data centers require around 1 to 2 hectares of land to put up a 10-MW facility.
She added that the Philippines can also absorb demand from Singapore, the region’s data center powerhouse, as it becomes “more selective” in accommodating new data center projects in the future.
The Department of Trade and Industry said the Philippines is an attractive location for hyperscalers as the country tops social media and internet usage worldwide while e-commerce adoption grew 76 percent and 80 percent in 2020 and 2021, respectively. (PNA)
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