MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. is positioning itself to capture a larger share of corporate technology spending as businesses accelerate investments in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure.
The telecommunications giant is moving beyond its traditional role as a connectivity provider, pursuing a broader “one enterprise” approach that brings together connectivity, cloud, managed IT, cybersecurity, data centers and other digital services under a more integrated offering.
The strategy was highlighted during the inaugural ACC CXO Forum in Hong Kong, where executives from telecommunications, technology, finance and infrastructure sectors discussed how businesses are responding to rapid technological change and rising investment requirements.
PLDT Global organized the forum, which brought together nearly 100 C-level delegates and 34 speakers and panelists for discussions covering technology, investment, resilience and growth.
From telecom provider to technology partner
PLDT Senior Vice President and Treasurer Leo Posadas said enterprise customers previously dealt separately with providers for connectivity, wireless services, cloud, cybersecurity and other digital requirements.
PLDT is now attempting to bring those services together.
The goal is straightforward: instead of competing for only a company’s connectivity budget, the PLDT Group wants to participate in a much broader portion of the customer’s technology spending.
That shift comes as businesses increasingly depend on cloud platforms, data analytics, artificial intelligence and digitally connected operations.
PLDT’s procurement strategy is also changing. Chief Procurement Officer Louella Calixtro said supplier selection is no longer simply about securing the lowest price, with innovation, resilience and the ability to support businesses during disruptions becoming increasingly important considerations.
The numbers show where the opportunity is
PLDT’s own financial results provide a clearer picture of why enterprise technology has become strategically important.
For the first half of 2026, PLDT’s Enterprise revenues reached ₱24.8 billion, while Corporate Data and ICT revenues climbed 5% to ₱18.4 billion.
More notably, ICT revenues surged 22% during the period, with technology services growing 35%.
PLDT’s first-quarter figures showed an even sharper acceleration in several areas. Enterprise revenue reached ₱12.4 billion, up 4% year-on-year, while ICT revenue increased 17%. Managed IT services jumped 79%, while Data and AI revenue rose 31%.
Those figures suggest that the company’s growth opportunity is increasingly shifting toward higher-value technology services rather than traditional telecommunications alone.
AI is creating a massive infrastructure appetite
The artificial intelligence boom is also creating demand for the physical infrastructure needed to run AI applications.
That is where PLDT’s VITRO data center business becomes particularly important.
In August, PLDT said VITRO was considering a new data center with at least 100 megawatts (MW) of capacity—potentially doubling the scale of its existing data-center footprint.
The company said demand is coming from government agencies, enterprise workloads, AI applications and hyperscalers.
PLDT has been evaluating locations including Southern Luzon and Central Luzon. General Trias in Cavite has emerged as one candidate, while New Clark City in Tarlac is also being considered.
A facility of that scale would represent a major expansion of the infrastructure needed to support cloud computing and AI workloads in the Philippines. Manila Bulletin reported that the potential project could cost around ₱40 billion, although the final location and project details remain subject to evaluation.
Power and water could determine where AI infrastructure goes
There is, however, a major challenge accompanying the AI opportunity: data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity and require reliable cooling infrastructure.
PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan has identified power availability and electricity rates as critical considerations when choosing a location for future data centers.
Reliable water supply and access to skilled IT workers are also important.
This means the race to build AI infrastructure is no longer simply a technology question. It is increasingly an issue involving electricity, water, land, connectivity and workforce capacity.
The broader global trend underscores the scale of the opportunity. Reuters recently reported that the accelerating AI data-center buildout is generating enormous demand for power and cooling infrastructure, with McKinsey forecasting nearly $7 trillion in global data-center investment by 2030.
VITRO is already expanding
PLDT’s data-center business is already showing strong momentum.
VITRO data-center revenue increased 13% in the first half of 2026, according to PLDT’s financial disclosure.
The company has also identified expansion opportunities that could raise total IT-ready capacity to about 62.4 MW, compared with approximately 34 MW of currently activated capacity, according to management commentary reported after the company’s first-half results.
The Santa Rosa facility is particularly significant because PLDT has positioned it as an AI-ready hyperscale data center.
And the expansion is not limited to AI.
Demand is also coming from enterprises, cloud providers, government workloads and hyperscalers seeking secure, scalable infrastructure within the Philippines.
PLDT is building an ecosystem, not just selling bandwidth
The company’s latest moves point toward a larger strategic transformation.
PLDT can potentially connect a corporate customer through its telecommunications network, provide cloud and managed IT services through its technology businesses, secure its systems through cybersecurity offerings and host workloads inside VITRO data centers.
That creates an opportunity to capture revenue at several points in the same enterprise technology stack.
A recent partnership involving VITRO, PLDT Global and Singapore-based SG.GS further illustrates this direction. The companies announced a colocation arrangement designed to expand network interconnection between carriers, cloud providers, internet service providers and Philippine enterprises.
The objective is to strengthen connectivity and provide additional pathways for cloud, content and enterprise workloads across the Asia-Pacific region.
The bigger bet: follow where corporate budgets are going
For PLDT, the AI boom is therefore about more than selling faster internet.
It is about following the money as companies redirect technology budgets toward AI, cloud, cybersecurity, managed services, data analytics and data-center capacity.
The company’s first-half results indicate that this strategy is already gaining traction, with ICT-related businesses growing faster than several traditional telecommunications segments.
But the opportunity also comes with significant capital requirements.
PLDT reported ₱20.7 billion in capital expenditures during the first half of 2026, down from ₱27.4 billion a year earlier, while reported net income stood at ₱16.4 billion.
That makes disciplined investment particularly important as the company weighs the cost of new data centers and other infrastructure against the potential long-term returns.
What happens next?
The emerging picture is clear: AI is changing what Philippine companies need from their technology providers, and PLDT wants to be the company that supplies as much of that stack as possible.
Its challenge now is converting the AI-driven surge in demand into sustainable enterprise growth while managing the enormous infrastructure requirements that come with it.
If PLDT succeeds, the next chapter of its business may have less to do with simply connecting companies to the internet—and much more to do with powering, securing, storing and managing the AI-driven digital economy itself.
WWC ONE MEDIA J.M.S
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