DTI pitched PH as Google manufacturing hub

PH presented as manufacturing hub for Google

Story by Janine Alexis Miguel 
Manila Times
13 April 2024

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) presented the Philippines as an alternative manufacturing location for Google tech products.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual pitched the idea to the tech company during a meeting that took place on the sidelines of the United States-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit held in Washington, D.C.

"With a digital-savvy population exceeding 110 million, we offer a lucrative market for foreign investment. Our cultural affinity for global content and robust local enterprise sector also position us as a prime consumer of cloud services," Pascual said.

The country has already adopted 5G networks and has 19 international sub-sea cable systems, 13 cable landing stations and 840,000 kilometers of domestic fiber optic network.

It also supports 11 commercial data center providers operating 25 data centers with a total rack capacity of 19,000.

"The Philippines stands at the forefront of innovation and growth, welcoming diverse forms of collaboration across industry sectors. These include infrastructure development, workforce enhancement, manufacturing, cybersecurity and the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI)," Pascual said.

The Philippine delegation also emphasized the government's commitment to support the establishment of hyperscaler and data center operations.

Among the efforts related to this initiative includes the implementation of policies to safeguard intellectual property rights and data protection.

Meanwhile, the DTI also thanked Google for expanding its workforce development program called Google Career Certificates (GCC).

As of April 5, the department reported that the program has attracted interest from 23,000 Filipinos, with a goal to reach 25,000 participants.

This initiative was announced during the US-Philippines Trade and Investment Meeting on March 11.

Google Philippines started operations in 2013. Currently, the company is partnering with the DTI to roll out more GCC programs across DTI virtual campuses.