Google plans to invest $1 billion to build digital infrastructure in Thailand, including a new data centre, with the US tech giant announcing that the move will support 14,000 jobs in the kingdom.
The company said in a statement on Monday that the new centers in the industrial zones of Bangkok and Chonburi are intended to help meet the growing demand for cloud computing in Southeast Asia.
Google’s investment comes after Microsoft announced in May that it would build Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“These investments will empower Thai businesses, innovators and communities to harness the power of cloud and AI technology,” said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent company Alphabet.
Details of the investment were unveiled following a Bangkok meeting between Porat and Thai Prime Minister Patongtaran Shinawatra, who hailed the move as evidence that Thailand is becoming a major digital hub in Southeast Asia.
The data center will be located in Chonburi, a major industrial area southeast of Bangkok, while the cloud facilities will be in the capital itself.
Google’s expansion into Thailand would add $4 billion to the kingdom’s GDP by 2029 and support 14,000 jobs between 2025 and 2029, the company said, citing a report by consultancy Deloitte.
The announcement comes a year after Shinawatra’s predecessor Shretha Thavisin made a major push for investment from US tech giants during a visit to New York, seeking finance from Google, Microsoft and Elon Musk’s Tesla.
Thailand is Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, but its technology sector lags behind Singapore and Indonesia.
The Thai economy, long focused on traditional manufacturing, agriculture and tourism, has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government hopes that investments from Google, Microsoft and others like them will diversify and modernize the state’s economy.
Thailand’s Office of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission has said the digital economy could contribute up to 30 percent of GDP by 2027.
Across the region, governments are vying for US tech dollars, with Vietnam leading a campaign to move up the value chain from its traditional base as a center of production for shoes, clothing and furniture.
Vietnam hopes to take advantage of the US move to become less dependent on China for key resources, including high-tech chips.
And last week, Vietnamese state media reported that Musk’s SpaceX planned to invest $1.5 billion in the communist country.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)