The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has confirmed that the Philippines’ involvement in the US-led Pax Silica initiative will extend well beyond the planned AI industrial hub in New Clark City, with a Metro Manila IC design center and a separate data-center-only economic zone also in the pipeline.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo disclosed the plans during a House Committee on Appropriations hearing on August 24, in a briefing on the DTI’s proposed 2027 budget. “New Clark City is just one of the projects,” Rodolfo told lawmakers, noting that the site will be limited to advanced manufacturing rather than large-scale data center operations.
For local businesses and jobseekers, the disclosure means the AI supply chain opportunities tied to Pax Silica will not be confined to Tarlac. The Philippines joined the 23-country, one-economy coalition in April to help build a secure global supply chain for AI technology, a stated goal of the bloc.
The New Clark City site itself is a joint Philippine-US project spanning 1,619 hectares, designed as an investment acceleration hub where companies can produce semiconductors and other key AI-enabling components.
Developers taking part are required to build their own roads, provide their own power, and secure their own water supply, with no public funds allocated to the project. The DTI has previously said the site is projected to generate ₱180 billion annually and create 200,000 jobs, though it will require an estimated 3GW of power and 39 billion liters of water each year to operate.
Rodolfo said the government is now discussing other segments of the AI supply chain with Pax Silica partners, including a national IC design hub to be built in Metro Manila with a foreign partner other than the United States. Metro Manila already hosts 13 IC hub sites, including four Filipino-owned companies.
Separately, the DTI is also considering a hub dedicated solely to data centers, to be located where power and water capacity can support such operations. The same requirements imposed on New Clark City developers – building their own power facilities and securing and reusing their own water – would apply.
The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has previously clarified that the New Clark City hub will not primarily host hyperscale data centers, given the site’s limited resources. According to the International Energy Agency, a single data center can consume around 100 megawatts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the consumption of 100,000 households.
The DTI’s disclosures point to a broader, multi-site rollout of Pax Silica projects nationwide, with each location assigned a specific role in the AI supply chain.
