Vertiv to expand training of PHL engineers for data-center industry
VERTIV, a US infrastructure and data center firm, said it is looking to train more Filipino engineers in response to growing demand for data centers in the Asia-Pacific.
“The Philippines, for a very long time, has been providing the workforce for the whole region,” Vertiv President and General Manager David Churchill said at a briefing on Wednesday.
“We see, lot of the Filipinos out there working in the construction and the technical industries, and it also provided a very good base here for us to provide that training and leverage that throughout the whole region.”
Vertiv specializes in hardware, software, analytics, and ongoing services to help businesses run their applications smoothly.
On Wednesday, the company launched the Vertiv Academy, which seeks to train engineers in the latest data center technology. It will serve as the company’s main training hub in Asia.
Located at the SM Mega Tower in Mandaluyong City, Vertiv Academy offers specialized courses conducted by certified technical trainers. Programs include online pre-learning, interactive classroom instruction, and structured field training for regional and local needs.
It will also follow a standardized curriculum developed by Vertiv’s Global Learning Center of Excellence.
The academy is also set to offer training sessions for CoolChip CDU070 (liquid-to-air cooling technology) by the second half of 2025.
As of the first quarter, the academy has trained 53 regional customer engineers on new and legacy products.
“The Vertiv Academy reflects our long-term commitment to developing world-class engineering talent, not just to support our growth but to help shape the future of digital infrastructure across the region,” Mr. Churchill said.
David Yao, General Manager at Vertiv’s Manila Hub, expects the company’s headcount to grow by up to 20% this year as it is looking to occupy five floors at the SM Mega Tower.
Vertiv has about 24 manufacturing facilities across the US, Europe, and Asia. It also expects two new factories by the end of the year.
This allows the company to sidestep the impact of President Donald J. Trump’s new tariffs, according to Andrew Whall, vice-president, Asia Operations & general manager, ANZ at Vertiv.
“So, while we’ve been supplying product from Asia to support the US, we can now shift that capability into the US to avoid some of those tariff exposures,” he said at the briefing.
“That’s going to take a bit of time, so we will have a bit of exposure like many companies will, but we’re in the process of analyzing that,” Mr. Whall said. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
