Philippines to grow really big in AI at least in 2027, Dell says

Philippine businesses are set to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption in 2027, with data centre expansion and the entry of hyperscalers expected to carry the extra AI workloads, technology executives said at the VST ECS CXO Tech Summit 2026 press conference.

Dell Technologies sees the country's later start as an advantage. "Because you started one year back, now you can see the experience that everybody has and do what is successful," said Matthew Yeo, global engineering technologist for the Dell Automation Platform, adding that businesses can pick AI applications suited to their needs while weighing implementation and running costs. He also stressed optimising IT infrastructure to cut spending on computing resources, power and software licensing, and said: "I see the Philippines growing really big at least in 2027."

Hewlett Packard Enterprise said local companies are already developing and testing their own AI agents, but warned that governance must keep pace. "The question is, how much can they adapt to governance? You don't want these agents to start deleting things and going out of the box and doing unnecessary things," said Walter So, HPE's managing director. He said data centre expansion and hyperscaler entry would supply the infrastructure AI applications need.

Adoption is already climbing. An Amazon Web Services survey found 32% of Philippine businesses were using AI in 2026, up from 21% in 2025, a rise of more than 50% year on year, according to Token Times. VST ECS Phils. president and chief executive Jimmy D. Go said firms must invest now to stay competitive, and pointed to Executive Order No. 119, which sets a data residency framework for government data, as a factor drawing hyperscalers and data centre investment.

The executives said the Philippines must close gaps in power and cooling capacity, outdated IT systems, data readiness, cybersecurity and governance to reach its AI potential.