MANILA – At least four hyperscalers are considering investing in the Philippines through the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), according to the investment promotion agency.
PEZA deputy director general Tereso Panga said in an interview on Tuesday that the data center operators’ capacity spans from 30 to 100 megawatts.
Panga stated that the corporations are still awaiting the results of the May 9 elections before making an investment decision.
“These are big players aggressively looking for a site already,” he added, adding that the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna are being considered.
Hyperscalers are companies that offer scalable data storage.
According to a PEZA official, data center providers want to register their projects with the organization so that they are not subjected to the high power tariffs that exist outside of ecozones.
“Data center —it’s power intensive. So they want to be co-located in PEZA zone kasi (because) only PEZA can provide franchise, embedded power to operate it in ecozone. If they are not inside the ecozone, they will be exposed to regular power rates, and this is (a) big-ticket (project). They would want to be in an ecozone,” Panga continued.
PEZA has petitioned the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) to include ecozone development among the economic activities eligible for tax breaks, according to him. (PNA)