The Rise of Thailand's Data Centre Industry
By Witchaya Wipusanawan, Jones Lang LaSalle
April 11, 2023
Thailand's booming data centre industry, fuelled by the country's digital economy and government incentives, presents attractive investment opportunities.
Thailand has experienced a significant surge in demand for data centres over the past few years. This demand is driven by the rapid growth of the country's digital economy and increasing reliance on cloud computing and other online services. In 2021, Thailand's total internet users were recorded at 61 million, which accounted for 85% of the total population. The majority of these users also engage in social media, spending an average of roughly three hours every day on these platforms. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of businesses and governments worldwide, including Thailand. The shift towards remote work and online services has led to an increase in demand for data centres to support the growing volume of data traffic.
Other than domestic demand, the rise of data centres in Thailand can be attributed to government incentives. One of the most significant is the BOI (Board of Investment) promotion scheme, which offers a range of tax incentives and other benefits to companies that invest in data centres in Thailand. The BOI promotion scheme includes tax holidays of up to eight years, exemptions or reductions in import duties, and business facilitation services.
To meet the increasing demand, several major players in the industry have invested heavily in Thailand. For instance, in 2021, Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) launched its first hyper-scale data centre in Bangkok with a 20 MW capacity. In 2022, AWS also announced its plan to invest US$ 5 billion in the next 15 years to expand its cloud service capacity in Thailand and the region. Other notable players in the market include TCC Technology Group, CAT Telecom and True Internet Data Centre.
