Thailand welcomes Google's US$1 billion investment in data center

[webfact]

 

Thailand on Monday welcomed a major investment from the tech giant Google, which announced plans to invest US$1 billion to build a data centre and cloud region in the country. The firm stated that the investment aims to meet growing cloud demand and support artificial intelligence adoption in Southeast Asia.

 

According to a Deloitte study on the project, the investment is expected to create approximately 14,000 jobs annually until 2029. This is a significant boost, especially as technology continues to reshape economies and job markets globally.

 

Earlier this year, in May, Microsoft proposed launching its first regional data centre in Thailand as a step towards enhancing cloud services. The news underlines Thailand's growing status as a hub for tech development and investment in the region.

 

"Google’s cloud and data centre infrastructure in Bangkok and Chonburi will help meet the increasing demand for Google Cloud capabilities and AI innovations, as well as the company’s popular digital services—such as Search, Maps, and Google Workspace," the company declared.

The data centre will be located in an industrial estate in Chonburi, while the Google Cloud region, which includes hardware and software dedicated to providing services to both private and public sector entities, will be situated in the capital, Bangkok.

 

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra noted that Google's investment was "perfectly aligned" with the country's Cloud First Policy. Today, she met with Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, at the Government House, reported Thai PBS.

 

Paetongtarn thanked Google for its trust in Thailand’s potential to support its business, stating that her government would do its utmost to create a favourable and conducive environment for Google's operations. Porat added that Google's investment is expected to contribute approximately US$4 billion to Thailand's GDP by 2029.

 

Picture courtesy: Thai Rath

 

-- 2024-10-01

 

[JoePai]

And the $2bn data centre in Malaysia ?

 

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-to-invest-2bn-in-malaysia-for-cloud-region/ 

[retarius]

What they're building a postage stamp sized data centre? 

[mdr224]

They will soon learn that money invested here is money wasted

[watchcat]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra noted that Google's investment was "perfectly aligned" with the country's Cloud First Policy. Today,

 

Salivating much?

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Paetongtarn thanked Google for its trust in Thailand’s potential to support its business, stating that her government would do its utmost to create a favourable and conducive environment for Google's operations

 

      Se above.

[Celsius]

They saw woman president and had to jump in

[handymax]

How did Google manage to calculate enough electricity generating capacity to run this when Microsoft recently walked away for the same reason?

[ravip]

1 hour ago, mdr224 said:

They will soon learn that money invested here is money wasted

Do you honestly think Google is that naive?

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, retarius said:

What they're building a postage stamp sized data centre? 

1 billion USD, you can build something nice for that.

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, mdr224 said:

They will soon learn that money invested here is money wasted

Nonsense, they need to follow Alibaba, Microsoft who decided to do this earlier. There is a good market for it.

[FritsSikkink]

23 minutes ago, handymax said:

when Microsoft recently walked away for the same reason?

Do you have a link for that?

[redwood1]

Run Google Run.....Far away from Thailand.

[ravip]

7 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Run Google Run.....Far away from Thailand.

Are you running? Fast? 

[BigStar]

11 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Run Google Run.....Far away from Thailand.

 

You first.

[MalcolmB]

2 hours ago, mdr224 said:

They will soon learn that money invested here is money wasted

Can you explain why or are you just imagining it all?

[connda]

Thailand welcomes Google's US$1 billion investment in data center

 

Translated:
Thailand puts itself on the hook to supply one small city's worth of stable, continuous power for each data center built in Thailand.

Given the almost daily power outages we have had locally, I'm not sure where they plan to find the extra power.  Oh - I know!  Raise the rates for the commoners and then divert the power that they can no longer pay for.

[Will B Good]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

which announced plans to invest US$1 billion

 

Mmmmm....that wording leaves a bit to be desired.....

[BigStar]

1 hour ago, connda said:

Given the almost daily power outages we have had locally, I'm not sure where they plan to find the extra power.

 

Yeah, Google never even thought about that. Hee hee!

[lordgrinz]

3 minutes ago, BigStar said:

 

Yeah, Google never even thought about that. Hee hee!

 

Well they could do like Microsoft did and buy a Nuclear Power plant to run their systems 😉

 

https://www.wired.com/story/the-ai-boom-is-raising-hopes-of-a-nuclear-comeback/

Edited October 1 by lordgrinz

[fondue zoo]

 

Of course good luck to everyone involved but what was signed during the visit?

Did Ruth put ink to paper?

 

 

 

And finally we can put those pesky Chonburi monkeys to work.

 

Image Recognition LLM Training _{(behind the scenes)}

 

 

[RayWright]

I'm sorry, but it doesn't take 14,000 people to a DC this size.

[FritsSikkink]

4 hours ago, connda said:

Given the almost daily power outages we have had locally, I'm not sure where they plan to find the extra power.  Oh - I know!  Raise the rates for the commoners and then divert the power that they can no longer pay for.

Don't know where you live or how your setup is but I don't have that problem in Bangkok

[FritsSikkink]

5 hours ago, redwood1 said:

Run Google Run.....Far away from Thailand.

Sure, you know better than Google as you are much more successful in running a business.

[impulse]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

According to a Deloitte study on the project, the investment is expected to create approximately 14,000 jobs annually until 2029.

 

Then starting in 2030, the AI will replace 100,000 workers a year, with robots.

 

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

According to a Deloitte study on the project, the investment is expected to create approximately 14,000 jobs annually until 2029

That'll make up for all the companies closing on the eastern seaboard.

[Maestro]

Removed a post with false information. Suvarnabhumi airport is not "sitting there abandoned and sunk in the swamp"

@BigStar 

[gk10012001]

Personal privacy going going going  just about gone. This technology and information exchange is not good .

[WHansen]

I worked on Apples new data center in Denmark last year, they had problems with water ingress from the 375 meter felted valleys between the massive roof sections, i suspect with Thailands torrential downpours similar problems will occur.

 

The cooling systems for these data centers is also on a scale hard to comprehend, they generate so much heat that the hot water was going to be piped to the nearest town. With the ambient temps being so high in Thailand, that may also cause some issues.

 

The power requirements to run a data center are also astonishing.

 

From the diggers moving in to completion, i would guess 5 plus years if on the scale of Apples center.

Edited October 1 by WHansen
typo

[bendejo]

When you're pumping a billion dollars into a country there is much less chance they will be banning you.  Well, until the final check clears.  Musk did similar to get Brazil to see things his way just a few days ago.

Microsoft handled US gov't quite well: make enough US$500k donations to senators and congressional reps and, gosh darn it, you got yourself a lot of support!

 

Edited October 1 by bendejo

[john donson]

why did AI solve for all the billions it costs ?  they consume a massive amount of electricity and for what ?  more capture of your private data to be sold....