Data sovereignty laws should be enacted in the Philippines to attract global technology firms to set up data centers in the country and create thousands of jobs, says Jimmy Go, president and CEO of tech distributor VST ECS Philippines Inc.. Go was reportedly speaking at a media briefing during the 8th annual VST ECS CXO Tech Summit and CIO Forum last week in Boracay, Philippines.
Go said that countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and China which had enacted these laws had seen investment surges from big technology companies like Google, Microsoft, and AWS, as these laws mandate data that’s generated within their borders to be stored locally. In the Philippines, foreign tech companies can store local data overseas, thus limiting local infrastructure growth. This includes government data that uses foreign cloud services like AWS and Azure.
“If the data sovereignty law is approved, there will be more foreign direct investment, more jobs for Filipino people, and greater opportunities for the local tech ecosystem. Localized data storage would not only improve latency and speed, but also drive new investments in power, cooling, and green energy to support the data infrastructure,” said Go.