Dennis Uy plans to build $2-B Tech City in Pampanga

By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter

TECH TYCOON Dennis Anthony H. Uy is set to file with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) this month the application for the development of an information technology (IT) hub, which is envisioned to be the Philippines’ Silicon Valley.

“They are set to file their application with PEZA within the month. That’s a big-ticket investment,” PEZA Director-General Tereso O. Panga told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.

In May, Mr. Panga announced that Mr. Uy, the chief executive officer of Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc., proposed to develop a Tech City special economic zone (ecozone) in a 117-hectare land between Mexico and Angeles in Pampanga.

Mr. Panga said the project aims to create an ecosystem for technology, innovation, and tech-related sectors by attracting downstream tech companies.

In a separate interview, Mr. Uy said that he estimates the cost of the Tech City project to come out at around $2 billion.

“The whole project, I think, is easily $2 billion. It is a very big project,” Mr. Uy said in an interview with BusinessWorld.

“[The investment] will cover mostly the infrastructure because you need the buildings, road access, and structures, including the information and communication technology [infrastructure],” he added.

According to the businessman, the masterplan for the Tech City has already been handed over to him. This will allow the company to start ground development for the project.

“I think next year we can start already… we will be able to do the road access, drainage, all these things,” he said.

“We will go out to bring all these tech companies to help… there’s a lot of potential in Taiwan, Korea, and China, and even in Malaysia,” he added.

Despite being a personal venture, he said that Converge will put up a data center and a headquarters in the economic zone to meet internal requirements.

“And then hopefully if we are able to go through with our plans of building up air-traffic controller education there,” he added.

The latest data from PEZA showed there are a total of 427 operating ecozones, or ecozones with at least one existing and operating PEZA-registered business enterprise.

These operating ecozones are home to 4,382 locator companies, PEZA said.