AWS opens its new cloud infrastructure region in Thailand

 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has officially launched its Asia Pacific (Thailand) Region on Wednesday (Jan 8), marking a significant milestone in the company's expansion across Southeast Asia, the company said at a press conference on Tuesday. 

 

The new infrastructure aims to drive Thailand's digital economy and support local businesses in adopting innovative technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 

The scale of AWS's commitment to Thailand is substantial, with plans to invest more than US$5 billion over the next 15 years. 

 

 

Speaking during a press conference, AWS Thailand country manager Vatsun Thirapatarapong said that this investment is projected to contribute approximately US$10 billion to Thailand's GDP and support an average of 11,000 full-time jobs annually across various sectors, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, and telecommunications.

 

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra sent a message of support for the initiative, saying, "I thank Amazon Web Services for choosing to invest in data centres in Thailand. I am delighted that a world-class company recognises our country's potential and readiness. I hope that AWS will play an important role in working with the government to move Thailand towards a more inclusive digital society."
 

 

 

At the heart of this expansion are three Availability Zones, each containing one or more discrete data centres equipped with redundant power, networking, and connectivity. These zones are strategically positioned within a 100-kilometre radius to ensure high availability and fault tolerance whilst maintaining low latency for applications.

 

 

"Today is another significant milestone for AWS Thailand," Vatsun explained. "AWS has launched the new AWS Asia Pacific (Thailand) Region, part of its ongoing investment in Thailand. This is aimed at providing advanced and secure cloud services, as well as developing skills, training, and community engagement programs."

 

He emphasised that  this local infrastructure would reduce latency to single digits compared to services hosted outside Thailand. Since 2020, the company has already established six Amazon CloudFront edge locations in Thailand and introduced AWS Outposts for hybrid cloud solutions.

 

The new infrastructure has already attracted numerous prominent organisations in Thailand, including 2C2P, Ascend Money, Bank of Ayudhya, and CP Group. 

 

 

Among these early adopters, the Big Data Institute (BDI) is migrating its Health Link decentralised health data exchange service to AWS's Thai data centres. 

 

Dr Tiranee Achalakul, BDI's president and CEO, explained their choice: "We chose AWS as our primary cloud provider due to their reputation for secure, stable, and highly scalable infrastructure."

 

 

 

Another significant implementation comes from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which utilises AWS for its online trading platform serving over 3.6 million accounts. 

 

Thirapun Sanpakit, SET's deputy head of Information Technology Division, emphasised the benefits: "AWS provides robust cloud infrastructure for our online securities trading platform, offering flexibility, scalability, low latency, and compliance with strict security and regulatory requirements."

 

 

Beyond infrastructure development, AWS has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability by pledging to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across all operations by 2040. 

 

While current Thai regulations restrict direct renewable energy procurement, the company is actively utilising carbon offsets to support its sustainability goals.

 

Alongside environmental considerations, AWS has invested heavily in skills development, training over 50,000 individuals in Thailand on cloud skills since 2017 through various programmes, including the AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance and AWS Academy. 

 

The latter now operates in over 30 Thai universities, including prestigious institutions such as Chulalongkorn University and Mahidol University.

 

 

Special Prof Wisit Wisitsora-at, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, highlighted its significance: "The investment of AWS Thailand Region is believed to help Thailand accelerate its technology and digital economy transformation, making the country advantage in more competitiveness. To be the country's that drive with digital economy significantly, digital should contribute at least 30% of GDP."

 

 

 

Eric Conrad, director of ASEAN Public Sector at AWS, said the company's comprehensive service "provides access to over 200 native services." 

 

He highlighted the importance of these services in driving national outcomes across various sectors, particularly in education and healthcare. Partnerships with universities such as Sukhothai and Chulalongkorn are fostering innovation, while advancements in AI are enhancing clinical capabilities, diagnostics, and claims processing in healthcare, he said. 

 

"The cloud actually allows digital inclusion and participation in the digital economy," Conrad said, reinforcing the company's commitment to building digital skills across Thailand.

 

 

This expansion brings AWS's global infrastructure to 111 Availability Zones across 35 Regions. Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS, summarised the company's regional vision.

 

"We're seeing businesses across the Asia Pacific region rapidly adopt cloud services. AWS is proud to be part of driving Thailand's digital economy transformation and supporting Thailand's advancement as an AI hub for the region," he said.