Thailand emerging as a hub for data centres, cloud services, says BOI

Among the technology firms investing in Thailand were Amazon Web Services, Supernap, NextDC, CtrlS Data Centre and Telehouse, BOI secretary-general Narit Therdsteerasukdi said.

He added that many data centre and cloud service providers from the US, China and Singapore were currently in discussions with the government and the BOI about investments in Thailand.

He also expects Google's move to invest in Thailand and Microsoft's move to set up its data centre in the country to support increasing digital technology usage traffic in the future.

"We believe that Microsoft would study investment in Thailand in detail, and submit a request for investment privileges from the BOI," he said.

Narit said that Thailand has the potential to support investment in big data centres, thanks to growing digital technology demand and infrastructure readiness.

"Thailand's potential to allocate clean energy is an important factor for investment in data centres to achieve carbon neutrality," he said.

"Meanwhile, Thailand has an advantage because of its strategic location, low risk of natural disasters and supportive government policies, such as its cloud-first policy and BOI investment privileges."

He added that investors in the data centre and cloud service businesses would receive an eight-year exemption from corporate income tax, tariff exemption on import of machinery and equipment, and easier visas and work permits for executives and professionals.

Meanwhile, Kasikorn Research expects data-centre investments in Thailand to reach US$7.8 billion (280 billion baht) between 2024 and 2027, an annualised growth of 31%.

Investments are expected from technology giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, Tencent and Alibaba, as well as big players like True Corporation, Central Group and Telehouse.