BALAMBAN, Cebu — To help address the spiking data usage in the country, Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. will invest P4 billion to jumpstart the construction of its first-ever data center in Southern Luzon.

AboitizInfra president and chief executive officer Cosette V. Canilao, in an interview at the sidelines of an event here, disclosed that the company has already embarked on the initial stage of the project development.

“For the data center, we have already selected a site and we are already doing our due diligence at the site to ensure we can provide the necessary utilities for the infrastructure. It’s in Southern Luzon,” Canilao said.

Due diligence

Canilao noted the due diligence process will take six months, while the site construction will be done in two years.

AboitizInfra will build the project with its partner EdgeConnex, a global company specializing in a full spectrum of data center solutions.

“The plan with EdgeConneX is to build a 100-megawatt data center. We’ll do a 10-MW first and then probably a bigger one. For the first site, if my memory is correct, (we will invest) P4 billion,” Canilao said.

Centralizing shared info technology

Data centers are facilities centralizing an organization’s shared information technology operations and equipment to store, process, and disseminate data and applications.

Since they house critical assets, data centers are important in sustaining the daily operations of a company.

AboitizInfra had already committed to leverage its local expertise, assets, and portfolio as well as the diversified renewable portfolio of AboitizPower to successfully take on its digital infrastructure venture.

The company entered the digital infrastructure sector in 2021 through a joint venture with Unity Digital Infrastructure Inc.