Telco-turned-tech provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is prepared to pivot toward a more aggressive data center expansion to capitalize on the regional surge in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.

Dennis Anthony Uy, Converge chief executive officer, said the company is open to expanding its investments in the data center space in a bid to capture the growing demand for AI services locally and abroad.

He said the telco recently spent nearly ₱5 billion to build its data center in Angeles, Pampanga, which has a capacity of 12 megawatts (MW) and up to 1,200 racks.

The facility is expected to handle high-performance computing workloads such as AI and machine learning, as well as the country’s data residency requirements.

Through its sovereign cloud platform, Converge Cloud, the data center can also serve as a platform for hosting sensitive citizen data, which is seen to greatly benefit not only government agencies but also companies involved in finance and healthcare.

With an eye toward the future, Uy said the company designed the facility with expansion in mind, as it can be scaled up to 36 MW and beyond.

“We have focused on building world-class, future-ready facilities so we can become the country’s leading provider of digital services,” he said.

Uy said the Philippines needs more investments in data centers, as it risks falling behind neighboring countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, which have been attracting capital from technology giants looking to store their data.

Converge has steadily built up its data center capacity in recent years to help meet demand, with its facilities now having a combined capacity of around 20 MW.

For the year, Converge is raising its capital expenditures (capex) by 30 percent to ₱23 billion from last year’s ₱17.7 billion. While the capex will largely support network expansion, Uy said the funding will also be allocated to support its AI push.

Converge Studios CEO James Tristan Mendoza said several data centers are already in the pipeline, including another facility in Luzon with a prospective site in Batangas.

Last year, Uy said the company is interested in expanding its data center network either through a facility in Visayas or Mindanao, which could have a capacity of as much as 100 MW.

But despite being open to more investments into data centers, Mendoza said the company is in no rush to simply build infrastructure, stressing that maximizing capacity is its best strategy to compete with some of the country’s top data center players.

“Our approach is we will not fight yet in the megawatt race, but we want to make sure that the data centers that we build are fully maximized and utilized,” he told reporters.