The Thailand Data Centre Council (TDCC) has appointed its first Chairman, Mr. Thosaphol Pengsom, as part of a strategic move to position Thailand as a leading data centre hub in Southeast Asia within the next three years. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) data centre colocation market currently holds a substantial 10,233 MW of IT capacity, constituting approximately 40% of the global market. Forecasts from Structure Research suggest that this figure is expected to surge to 19,069 MW by 2028. Notably, ASEAN countries like Malaysia and Indonesia have experienced significant growth in this sector.
Despite having the second-largest GDP in the region, Thailand faces challenges related to policy and regulatory issues that may impede its participation in the growing AI Economy. AI has demonstrated its potential to drive economic growth, influencing both demand and supply. The Thailand Data Centre Council aims to collaborate with the government, cloud service providers, and content platforms to advocate for policy reforms, fostering confidence among international investors and creating an environment conducive to expansion.
Mr. Thosaphol Pengsom, the newly appointed Chairman, emphasized the importance of supporting an environment that accelerates the expansion of data center capacity, considering the presence of major cloud service providers like Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform in Thailand.
The TDCC’s strategic focus areas include Policy Refinement, Sustainability & Renewable Energy, Workforce Development, and Mediation and Advocacy. By refining policies, the council aims to instill confidence in the data centre industry, collaborating with the energy sector to develop renewable energy solutions, and addressing workforce development to support education in data centres. Additionally, the TDCC plans to act as a mediator to address challenges and boost investor confidence, aligning with the government’s efforts to attract investments and position the data centre sector as a critical component of Thailand’s digital infrastructure as the Bank of Thailand projects an economic growth of 3.8% by 2024. The TDCC was established in January 2024 through a Memorandum of Understanding among five founding members.
