Data centers in the Philippines: 1 project mapped

The largest data center project in the Philippines is rising beside a busy highway in a low-income neighborhood of Fairview, in Quezon City. STT GDC Philippines, a joint venture of Globe Telecom, Singapore-owned ST Telemedia and Ayala Corporation, is building four data centers there that together will draw up to 124 megawatts of power, enough to supply the five provinces of the Muslim Mindanao region. The joint venture already runs two data centers in Metro Manila, one in Cavite and one in Davao.

The worry is the power bill. Meralco, the biggest distributor, says it will deliver 1,000 megawatts to 10 data centers and has already built switching stations for STT Fairview and PLDT's Vitro Sta. Rosa in Laguna, reportedly costing P360 million together. Such costs have mostly been passed on to customers with the Energy Regulatory Commission's approval. "Our electricity costs are so high already," said Gerry Arances of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development. Myrine Buela, who runs a shop near the Fairview site, said her family of nine is paying more even while cutting back.

At least 40 data centers are operating or planned, mostly in and around Manila, and PLDT's Vitro is opening 11 of them to clients including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google. Coal generates 60% of the country's electricity. Meralco still has to build connections for eight more data centers, and each cost goes to the Energy Regulatory Commission for approval.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.