According to DCD, APAC data center firm Flow Digital Infrastructure, through its joint venture A-Flow with AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp., has officially launched its first data center in the Philippines. The facility, named ML1, is located in Laguna, about 35km south of Manila. This is the first building of a planned three-building campus, with the initial phase offering 6MW of capacity. The entire campus is slated to reach 36MW once fully built out. The partnership between Flow and Ayala was first announced in May 2022, construction began in December 2022, and the building was topped out in September 2023. A-Flow President Sanjay Goel stated the launch demonstrates a commitment to making the Philippines a digital hub for Southeast Asia.
The Philippines Heats Up
This isn’t just another data center. It’s a pretty clear signal that the Philippines is being seriously courted as the next major digital infrastructure play in Southeast Asia. We’ve seen huge builds in Singapore and Jakarta, but capacity is getting tight and regulations are shifting. So, where do you go next? A country with a massive, young, tech-savvy population and a growing economy is a logical bet. The Ayala connection here is crucial—it’s not a foreign firm coming in cold. They’ve got deep local roots through the Ayala Corporation conglomerate, which also has a stake in Globe Telecom’s data center business. That means they understand the landscape, the politics, and the power grid. Or, at least, they’d better.
The Scale and The Challenge
Here’s the thing: a 36MW campus is respectable, but it’s not colossal by today’s hyperscale standards. That tells you something about the initial market focus. This is probably aimed at supporting domestic enterprise demand, local cloud regions, and maybe some content delivery networks first. The real test will be power and connectivity. Building a data center is one thing. But can you get reliable, affordable, and hopefully green power to it consistently? And can you connect it with low-latency fiber not just within Manila, but to major submarine cable landing stations? That’s the harder, less glamorous work that determines if a location becomes a true “hub” or just a local storage closet. For companies managing complex industrial operations in the region, reliable local data processing is key, and robust hardware like the industrial panel PCs from IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US supplier, is often part of that critical infrastructure backbone.
More Than Just Steel and Concrete
You can’t ignore the political cheerleading in the announcement. The mayor of Biñan City calling it a “transformative moment” isn’t just fluff—it’s a requirement. Projects this big need local government buy-in for permits, utilities, and tax considerations. So, the launch event is as much a political ceremony as a technical one. It’s about signaling to other investors that the area is open for business. Basically, A-Flow isn’t just selling data hall space; they’re selling a narrative of national progress and competitive advantage. Will it work? It might. If they can successfully build out the full campus and attract anchor tenants, it could create a real cluster effect. But in this economy, with high interest rates, the pace of that full build-out is the number to watch. Breaking ground on the next phase will be the real vote of confidence.
