Trade war may boost takeup for data centers

The ongoing trade war is seen to lift the demand for data center services in the Philippines, according to Globe Telecom Inc.

The Ayala-led telco considers data centers as a major growth driver for the company.

The data center business itself is already getting a boost from hyperscalers and the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence among enterprises.

Globe chief financial officer Juan Carlo Puno, in a press briefing last week, said that builders of undersea fiber cable systems might take an interest in the Philippines amid geopolitical tensions arising from the trade war.

Undersea cables serve as the digital highways for the transmission of data.

“We are very well situated geographically. With the heightening of this trade war, a lot of [cable companies] are looking at the Philippines as the country to land in,” he said.

A trade war between the United States and China has been brewing since US President Trump announced the imposition of additional tariffs on products entering American shores. This move is seen to have global economic impact.

“Whenever they land cables, there is always going to be a data center demand,” he added.

See Also

Indonesian woman turns to mangroves to fend off rising tides

Globe is working on the 2,500-kilometer Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network. The network is designed to link several provinces across the country.

While subsea cable systems deliver data, data centers serve as hubs to house critical servers and information technology (IT) networks.

Puno also expressed optimism over the future of the data center industry, especially because of the rise of hyperscalers.

Hyperscalers are entities that provide cloud, networking and internet services.