The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is poised to exceed its investment registration target this year, with a roughly P200-billion pipeline of major projects potentially pushing approvals past its previous record.
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the agency is on track to surpass its P300-billion investment target for 2026 and could break the P312-billion record set in 2012 as several large projects move closer to fruition.
“That will allow us to reach the highest based on our historical performance in 2012, when we approved some P312 billion,” Panga said.
The pipeline includes four major prospective investors, including a Taiwanese solar cell manufacturer, an American company and two hyperscaler solutions projects. Each is expected to involve investments of around P50 billion, with some potentially materializing this year and the two hyperscaler projects targeted for early 2027.
The pipeline points to continued foreign interest in the Philippines as companies seek to diversify production and technology operations beyond Vietnam. Panga said interest is coming not only from China but also Taiwan, reflecting broader supply-chain efforts to build redundancy across Asia.
Manufacturing remains a key driver, while Japanese investors are also showing renewed interest after a softer showing last year.
Panga attributed the stronger pipeline to PEZA’s investment promotion efforts, resilient economic fundamentals and opportunities emerging from major economic corridors and supply-chain initiatives.
The return of information technology investment could provide another lift. PEZA is seeing renewed interest in IT parks following the lifting of the Metro Manila moratorium, with around three to five applications currently in the pipeline.
The investment story is less about a single blockbuster project than whether PEZA can convert a sizeable pipeline into actual registrations. If even part of the P200-billion prospective haul advances as expected, 2026 could mark a new high-water mark for the country’s economic zones while reinforcing the Philippines’ push to capture supply-chain diversification and higher-value manufacturing.
