DTI Eyes Bulacan Ecozone as a Gateway for Assembling and Exporting AI Server Racks
The Philippines is considering Bulacan as a gateway for assembling and shipping AI compute hardware to Asia and the world, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said at the 2026 FINEX Conference in Pasay City, GMA News reported. The idea would use the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport, overseen by the Bulacan Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), and its closeness to the New Manila International Airport (NMIA).
Under the concept, components sourced across the region, for example from Singapore and Malaysia, would be brought into the ecozone, assembled and integrated into AI hardware such as server racks, tested and validated, and then flown out to customers. “Could an airport-centered economic zone eventually become a global technology, logistics, and distribution gateway? I believe it is worth imagining, but this is really a longer-term vision,” Rodolfo said. He told reporters the country cannot make every component itself; what matters is being able to aggregate, assemble and ship the racks immediately.
Speed is the selling point. In AI, Rodolfo said in Filipino, the competition is all about speed, and an airport next to a large ecozone raises the possibility of Bulacan becoming an AI gateway. The plan depends partly on NMIA, the P740-billion aviation project in Bulakan being built by San Miguel Aerocity Inc. and designed to serve 100 million passengers a year once complete. Operations are set to start in 2028.
What it means in practice
Bulacan would be the fifth node in the government’s industrial push, after advanced manufacturing in New Clark City, integrated circuit design, critical minerals and mineral processing, and AI computing infrastructure including data centres. Rodolfo called it the “AI Global Connectivity and Distribution node”. “What we design, what we build must reach the world,” he said. The idea extends talks on the Pax Silica AI hub beyond New Clark City and sits beside the $34.4 billion AI+ infrastructure masterplan to 2033.
Assembling and testing racks is a different business from running data centres: it depends more on fast logistics, smooth customs and skilled technicians than on cheap power. Because the plan relies on components from neighbouring countries, regional trade rules matter too, including the ASEAN digital pact that Marcos expects to set an AI roadmap. Rodolfo himself stressed that the gateway is a long-term vision rather than an approved project.
What to watch: whether DTI and BEZA turn the vision into incentives or investor pitches, whether any hardware maker commits to Bulacan, and whether NMIA stays on track to open in 2028.