After billions for Singapore and Malaysia, Google spends big in Thailand too

Google’s US$1 billion bet on Thai data centres could boost the economy by US$4 billion over 5 years and create 14,000 jobs annually, it says

Reading Time:2 minutes

Published: 9:06am, 1 Oct 2024

Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to invest US$1 billion to build data centres in Thailand, joining global tech companies in adding cloud and AI infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

The company will add facilities in Bangkok and Chonburi, a province southeast of the capital.

The outlay could help add US$4 billion to Thailand’s economy by 2029 and support 14,000 jobs annually over the next five years, Google said on Monday, citing a Deloitte study.

The investment was unveiled by Google and Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand’s recently appointed prime minister, underscoring the push by Southeast Asia’s governments to attract foreign tech firms.

Long seen as a tech hinterland, the region of about 675 million people is fast emerging as a growth opportunity for Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., which are spending billions of dollars to ramp up AI data centres from Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore and Indonesia.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra speaks to the media after the first official weekly cabinet meeting at Government House in Bangkok last month. Photo: EPA-EFE

“We are investing in cloud regions, data centres and subsea cables across the region, building on our many years of work to bring cloud infrastructure closer to the people and organisations here,” Alphabet and Google President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat said in an emailed response to questions ahead of an event with the prime minister in Bangkok. “This region holds great potential.”