Philippines

Summary
The Philippines maintained low levels of digital dependence, experiencing a minimal yet fluctuating increase. Overall, the DDI value increased marginally from approximately 0.48 in 2010 to 0.50 in 2023. Data reveal significant disparities across various dimensions. For example, the average level of reliance on foreign-owned patents was 1.00, while dependence on foreign platforms was very high but not complete, ranging between 0.94 and 0.99. Conversely, the Philippines significantly reduced its reliance on ICT trade in goods, dropping from 0.57 in 2010 to 0.32 in 2023. Dependency in bilateral trade with the U.S. and China also declined, indicating substantial growth in domestic production. Dependence on ICT trade in services scored outstandingly low in global comparison and has slightly risen from 0.09 in 2010 to 0.20 in 2023.

Policies
The Philippines pushed their efforts to reduce digital dependence through a variety of policies in the past years. The 2025 proposition to build government-owned data centres illustrates the will to build some domestic compute and storage capacity. Additionally, two interconnected initiatives stand out that link the Philippines closely with the US AI strategy: the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) and the Pax Silica Initiative are intended to transform the Philippines into a critical Indo-Pacific node for tech manufacturing and AI.