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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider Finnish elevator giant KONE eyes Philippine urban growth

Finnish elevator giant KONE eyes Philippine urban growth

Published Aug 15, 2025 02:50 pm
Finnish elevator and escalator giant KONE is bullish on a sustained business growth in the Philippines, capitalizing on the anticipated rapid urbanization of the country in the long term.
“As cities in the Philippines rapidly expand, we are committed to growing with them sustainably and strategically,” said KONE’s managing director for Philippines Petteri Kyrklund.
Over the next five years, KONE is expecting the local construction market to grow by as much as 6.6 percent.
Around the same time, the country’s elevator market is forecasted to reach $52.6 million or nearly ₱3 billion.
KONE is looking to harness this projected growth by reinforcing its future-ready solutions in the country, specifically aimed at extending building lifespans and modernizing aging infrastructure.
According to the company, more than 40 percent of elevators in the Asia-Pacific region have been operating for over 25 years. A portion of this has yet to face upgrades to meet current safety and energy standards.
Given that these elevators are typically in dense urban centers such as Metro Manila and Cebu, KONE is promoting modernization as the sustainable alternative to preserve value instead of demolition.
The company said it is undertaking this shift through condition-based maintenance, data-driven lifecycle planning, and modular upgrades that are seen to reduce disruption and maximize long-term asset value.
A key component of this modernization push is connectivity, which is a strong feature of its latest elevator offering, the KONE High-Rise
MiniSpace DX elevator.
The next-generation technology brings together a compact design and energy efficiency with digital intelligence that would meet ever-shifting demand.
Further, KONE’s modernization efforts will include the installation of the KONE 24/7 Connect, which harnesses artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytics to ensure seamless operations.
“We do see the market trend that connectivity is no longer a futuristic topic,” said KONE digital service operations manager Chung Keng Yang.
“It is basically something that will create a competitive advantage for the building owners, that they would want to have to make sure that they're able to differentiate themselves from the other places,” he added.
While he did not elaborate about KONE’s growth trajectory, Kyrklund said the company is on track to maintain its consistent growth in the country, particularly with the recovery of its residential segment.
As it stands, KONE primarily serves residential buildings more than office buildings.
However, Kyrklund said there has been a slight dip in demand from its resident customers due to an oversupply driven by the ban from Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) last year.
In turn, he said developers have opted to move towards the retail and hospitality business.
“But in the long term, I expect all of these residential will bounce back…And we see the growth more and more outside Metro Manila,” he said.
To support the anticipated growth, KONE earlier launched a training facility designed to train elevator and escalator professionals. The company is targeting to certify at least 4,400 professionals by 2030.

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