Microsoft Plans First Data Centre Investment in Thailand

[webfact]

Picture courtesy of Thai Rath

 

Software giant Microsoft has unveiled plans to make its first investment in a data centre region in Thailand, promising to significantly enhance the country’s digital ecosystem.

 

The announcement, made by CEO Satya Nadella, includes the creation of a data centre region and providing AI training for over 100,000 Thais to support the local developer community.

 

Although the exact value of the investment remains undisclosed, Microsoft aims to expand the Thai developer community through initiatives like AI Odyssey, which aims to train 6,000 developers as AI experts. K-Research predicts the country's data centre service business will grow by 31.2% annually. 

 

Microsoft identifies Thailand as a burgeoning market, with around 900,000 local developers using GitHub, Microsoft's development and innovation platform, in 2023. Dhanawat Suthumpun, Managing Director of Microsoft Thailand, reports consistent growth in demand for cloud services and AI over a range of organisations in Thailand. 

 

The new data centre region is expected to boost the availability of Microsoft’s hyperscale cloud services, enhancing performance and ensuring compliance with data privacy standards.  

 

Research by Kearney indicates that AI could add nearly US$1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s GDP by 2030, with Thailand potentially accounting for US$117 billion. 

 

Analysts predict the entry of major foreign cloud providers, underpinned by local data centres, will have a positive impact on the Thai digital ecosystem. Adam Simmons, an analyst at Dgtl Infra, forecasts the total value of data centre investments in Thailand to reach around 110 billion baht ($US 3 billion) by 2024, growing to 225 billion by 2027.

 

-- 2024-05-09

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[JoePai]

Seems Malaysia has also been earmarked : https://local.microsoft.com/communities/asia-pacific/malaysia/

[retarius]

I see a rash of these data centres occurring in third world nations. They consume massive amounts of electricity and need their own reactors. Given that the grid here served us well over the past few weeks with minimal disruption despite exceptionally hot weather, the future looks bleak for consumers if MS and big US corporations come in and steal all the electricity at discount prices.. 

[Korat Kiwi]

 

Now that's a melon and a half if ever I saw one...