The proposed Pax Silica initiative could generate as many as 800,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs as the Philippines positions itself as a regional hub for artificial intelligence, hyperscale data centers, and semiconductor manufacturing.

However, Malacañang cautions that the project’s terms are still open to change amid mounting community complaints.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday night, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry R. Aguda said his agency is mapping the technical groundwork for the project, including assessing the power requirements of hyperscale facilities and folding Pax Silica into the Philippine AI Infrastructure Master Plan.

Inclusion in the Philippine

AI Master Plan

“We provide technical assistance, such as determining the power requirements and how many gigawatts are needed to support a hyperscaler. The Philippine AI Master Plan is also under our responsibility, and Pax Silica is included in it,” Aguda said, adding that the project extends beyond AI to chip manufacturing and related industries.

The proposed 1,620-hectare hub in New Clark City is envisioned as the country’s flagship AI and advanced manufacturing center and a core piece of the Luzon Economic Corridor.

Essential groundwork

Aguda said the National Digital Connectivity Plan — which builds out international gateway connectivity — is essential groundwork, since “you cannot have hyperscalers in Pax Silica without international gateways connecting the country.”

He added that the Asian Development Bank prepared the AI Infrastructure Master Plan underpinning the project, identifying power, policy, and digital infrastructure needs alongside three priority industrial corridors in Cagayan, Bataan-Pampanga and Batangas.

Clark was chosen as the project’s center — with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) as lead agency — because of its operational international airport, the return of FedEx cargo operations, and its economic-zone status, which streamlines permitting.

Aguda also moved to ease concerns over power and water demands, saying new generation capacity and planned energy projects would cover both AI infrastructure and household needs, and that coastal sites like Batangas, Bataan and Cagayan can rely on desalinated seawater and recirculating cooling systems, while Clark can tap recycled river water.

Explain the technology better

“The concern is that communities might run out of drinking water, but that is not the case. We simply need to explain the technology better,” he said.

The Department of Energy said separately that it is drafting a dedicated power framework for Pax Silica, considering embedded generation — dedicated power plants located within or near the hub — as the fastest route to energizing the facilities without straining household and business supply.

The agency plans to fold the hub’s projected demand into the Philippine Energy Plan and the national transmission development plan.

Not yet a done deal

But on Thursday, Malacañang stressed that the US-led initiative is not yet a done deal and that its provisions could still change, amid growing complaints from communities near the more-than-162-hectare project site.

“There is a chance that there will be changes in the provisions. The government is in consideration of the benefits to our countrymen, to our country and, of course, to our partners,” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said, urging affected parties to raise concerns directly with the BCDA and other agencies involved.