BPOAI News / Philippine BPO Industry

Philippine BPO Industry Cuts 2028 Revenue Goals on AI

IBPAP has revised its 2028 revenue target down to $43–50B, citing AI disruption and slower investment decisions in the Philippine BPO industry.

By Justin Massey, GTM & Partnerships Lead, LyrIQ AI· Last updated: October 16, 2026

The Philippine IT-BPM sector is recalibrating its ambitions. The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) has revised its 2028 revenue target down to between $43.3 billion and $50.5 billion, a significant cut from the $59 billion goal set when it launched its six-year roadmap in 2022.

Employment projections have also been trimmed. The industry now expects to support between 1.85 million and 2.14 million workers by 2028, compared to the original target of 2.5 million. Critically, IBPAP stressed that those workers must be "AI-enabled" to remain competitive in a changing market.

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IBPAP Lowers Revenue and Jobs Forecast Through 2028

IBPAP president and CEO Jack Madrid described the update as an honest reassessment rather than a retreat. "The future of the industry remains promising, but how we continue to grow will change," he said at a briefing this week.

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AI Is Reshaping Work, Not Eliminating It Yet

Despite widespread concern about automation, Madrid said the feared wave of mass layoffs has not materialized. AI has affected some roles, particularly entry-level positions, but the industry has managed to redeploy those workers rather than shed them.

"I think AI is a real development, but I think we have not really seen it scale yet," Madrid said. "It has affected some jobs, but based on all the members we talked to, the entry-level jobs that some of the AI trials have affected, those employees have been able to be redeployed."

That picture could change as AI tools mature and adoption deepens across BPO operations. For now, the industry is treating the transition as a workforce transformation challenge as much as a technology one. Companies listed in the BPO directory are increasingly flagging AI readiness as a core service differentiator.

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Competition and Geopolitics Add Pressure

AI is not the only force squeezing the numbers. The Philippines, which remains the world's second-largest IT-BPM destination after India, faces growing competition from a broader field of outsourcing markets. Madrid named several countries putting pressure on traditional Philippine advantages:

South Africa and Egypt in voice and customer service
Poland and other Eastern European markets for tech-intensive work
Colombia and Costa Rica targeting North American clients
Vietnam building out its BPO capacity in Southeast Asia

On top of that, geopolitical uncertainty has slowed investment decisions. Buyers and clients are still interested in the Philippines, Madrid said, but they are taking longer to commit. "All the macroeconomics, all the geopolitics caused many of our buyers and investors not to stop, but it made them make their decisions slower," he said.

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What the Revised Roadmap Signals

The midterm review marks a turning point for an industry that has posted consistent growth for two decades. The Philippines built its outsourcing reputation on English proficiency, cultural affinity with Western markets, and a large, educated workforce. Those strengths still hold, but they are no longer sufficient on their own.

The revised roadmap puts AI adoption at the center of the next phase of growth. Whether the industry can retrain workers fast enough, and attract the investment needed to do so, will determine where the final numbers land by 2028. Full details of the updated projections were reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

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IBPAP Lowers Revenue and Jobs Forecast Through 2028

AI Is Reshaping Work, Not Eliminating It Yet

Competition and Geopolitics Add Pressure

What the Revised Roadmap Signals

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