The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) and InfiniVAN Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide digital infrastructure in the province of Aurora, which is being positioned as a viable hub for data centers.
APECO President and Chief Executive Officer Atty. Gil G. Taway IV and InfiniVAN President President Shigeki Nakahara led the signing ceremony Friday in Makati City graced by Economic Affairs Minister Naobuni Yokota of the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines.
The MOU between APECO and InfiniVAN aims to explore the establishment of a terrestrial (overland) connection inside APECO in Casiguran, Aurora connecting the ecozone with the landed and soon-to-be landed international submarine cable capacities in Baler, Aurora, as well as subsea cable capacities in Claveria, Cagayan and elsewhere in emerging Northern Luzon submarine cable landing corridors.
Alejandro A. Aquino, group advisor of InfiniVAN Inc., said the average investment is between PHP4 million to PHP4.5 million per kilometer. The overland digital infrastructure will span 104 kilometers, comparable to the entire entire length of NLEX from Balintawak all the way to Sta. Rita.
Aquino said the project would not be funded by the InfiniVAN alone but there are other partners and global equity investors.
Aquino said they can easily deploy in as fast as six months. Once a prospective hyperscaler has been identified, “We can get there in 6 months.” There are interested parties, mostly local, to build the data center that will house the locator hyperscalers.
APECO Chief Taway also said two to three hyperscalers have expressed interest to locate in the freeport.
The digital infrastructure envisioned in this collaboration is expected to support growing global demand from hyperscalers for artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacities in interconnected datacenters locally and abroad and usher in a new wave of investments in Aurora in the digital services sector.
PCEO Taway IV expects that the establishment of backhaul facilities connecting APECO to international submarine cable corridors will have multiplier effects — attracting datacenters to locate in the Casiguran-based ecozone and provide an impetus to clean energy investments that will supply the huge power demand for data center operations on top of otjer industries establishing inside the ecozone.
“The convergence of digital and energy infrastructure is expected to create employment opportunities for local communities. As we attract data centers and energy investments, we also open up opportunities for the people of Aurora. While data centers themselves are self-sustaining with smaller teams, it has a multiplier effect in the allied industries that provide support to these datacenter facilities. This means more jobs, development, and more inclusive economic growth,” PCEO Taway said.
