PLDT targeting to build its biggest data hub in 2026

The PLDT Group is eyeing to begin the construction of its 12th data center, which will be its biggest yet, in 2026 as it expands its digital infrastructure portfolio and takes advantage of the booming hyperscaler market.

Victor Genuino, president of PLDT’s information and communications technology arm ePLDT, said in a virtual press briefing last week that the company was looking for a location for the data hub, an infrastructure that houses critical servers and applications.

“Our 12th data center, which we are planning to build by 2026, is going to have a total capacity of not less than 100 megawatts (MW),” he said.

The ePLDT official noted data demand has been picking up in the country in the advent of accelerated digitalization, which requires more facilities handling data traffic.

“A lot of enterprises, corporates, governments, SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are now moving into the cloud, trying to digitize their operations to be more efficient, to look for new revenue streams and opportunities and to secure the applications,” he said.

Data storage providers also lure into the country hyperscalers who are in search of infrastructure to store their servers. Hyperscalers are entities providing cloud, networking and internet services such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google GCP, Alibaba AliCloud, IBM and Oracle.

While increasing capacity has become imperative, ePLDT customer field chief information security officer Alexis Bernardino raised the need to build robust cybersecurity measures for this crucial digital infrastructure, noting that successful cyberattacks could disrupt operations.

“In the cyber landscape today, it is no longer a question if our organizations or enterprises are going to be breached or attacked. It is a matter of when,” he said.

PLDT’s 11th hub, a 50-MW facility in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, is slated to go live by early 2024. INQ