ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Philippines, a joint venture between Globe, Ayala Corporation and the Singapore-based STT GDC, will build what it calls the largest and most interconnected carrier-neutral data centre in the country. The campus, STT Fairview, will sit in Quezon City with more than 83,000 square metres of gross floor area across four buildings and a development potential of 124 megawatts of IT load when fully built out.

The announcement comes on the first anniversary of the joint venture and is described as STT GDC's single largest project anywhere in its global portfolio. Initial operations are expected in early 2025.

Why the size is the question

One hundred and twenty-four megawatts would be a significant campus in Japan or Korea. In the Philippines it is a different proposition altogether, and the company's own framing gives the reason: it says the market is underserved, and that the country's digital industry is forecast to grow about 20 per cent a year through 2030, with e-commerce pushing gross merchandise value to USD 35 billion by 2025.

Those are forecasts, and the base they are measured against is small. The campus is aimed at hyperscalers and enterprises, with liquid cooling readiness for artificial intelligence workloads and a target of carbon-neutral operations by 2030. The chief executive of the Philippine venture, Carlo Malana, says the company is confident it can capture new demand.

Whether a campus of this size can be filled in the Philippines, rather than in Singapore or Tokyo, is the question the announcement answers with a construction date rather than a named tenant. Globe's president and chief executive, Ernest Cu, said the facility would support the country's growing digital industry and set a new standard for environmentally friendly data centres in the Philippines.