Globe Telecom Inc. is eyeing to further expand its data business to address the demand of hyperscalers in the Southeast Asian region.
In a statement, Ernest Cu, Globe Group president and chief executive officer, said the country has the potential to be the next key data center hub in Southeast Asia.
The company is venturing into the data business with the intent to own the space in the next few years, he added.
With Hong Kong’s geopolitical situation and Singapore’s capacity limitations, the Philippines is increasingly seen as an attractive location for hyperscalers.
“Location-wise, we are in the middle of Southeast Asia, not far from most capitals in the Asean. With the added connectivity, with the added data center capacity, we believe that the Philippines will become a great alternative now for the many hyperscalers that have to serve the region,” said Cu.
In catering to these hyperscalers, Globe said it has taken proactive steps through ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (Philippines), a joint venture between Globe, Ayala Corp. and Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC).
“We started off by looking for a very capable partner in STT GDC. They share our vision and optimism about the market, and so we’re building our data centers that will be located throughout the Philippines. The largest of these centers will be in Fairview, Quezon City, and is expected to be online in the first quarter of 2025,” Cu added.
The Fairview site has 125 megawatts (MW) capacity and is touted to be the largest, most interconnected, sustainable and carrier-neutral data center campus in the country upon completion.
Earlier, STT GDC Philippines also revealed aggressive expansion plans across its three existing data centers located in Makati, Cavite and Quezon City with a combined capacity expansion of 5.2 MW set this year.
To support hyperscalers, Globe is also building two more landing stations on the eastern and western coasts of the Philippines which can accommodate submarine cables that are coming into the country.
These submarine cables provide various means of connectivity such as voice, data and internet.
“We’ve got a tremendous number of people, population-wise, that live in these regions, and we have to be served by the hyperscalers. The adoption of cloud is also growing in the region. So we think that there’s going to be a huge demand for data centers,” Cu added.
