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This latest investment in technical infrastructure is expected to possibly bring in US$4bn to Thailand's GDP by 2029, and support an average of 14,000 jobs annually from 2025 through 2029.
Google has announced a US$1bn investment to expand its digital infrastructure into Thailand with the development of its cloud and data centre infrastructure in Bangkok and Chonburi. This investment hopes to support the growing demand for cloud services in Southeast Asia and around the world.
In addition, Google also introduced new expanded initiatives designed to help Thailand grow in the AI economy, including continued investments to make AI and digital skills more accessible to “Leave No Thai Behind."
The announcement was made at the Government House with Prime Minister of Thailand Paetongtarn Shinawatra and President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google Ruth Porat in attendance.
The agreement includes commitments to establish digital infrastructure, support responsible AI adoption, advance cloud-first policies, and make digital skills more accessible in Thailand.
Digital infrastructure investments
This latest investment in technical infrastructure is expected to possibly bring in US$4bn to Thailand's GDP by 2029, and support an average of 14,000 jobs annually from 2025 through 2029, according to a study by Deloitte.
The new cloud and data centre facilities in Bangkok and Chonburi hope to support the growing demand for Google Cloud capabilities and AI innovations, and the company’s digital services.
This follows Google Cloud’s prior announcement of plans in 2022 to launch a local cloud region for public sector organisations, small businesses, startups, and large enterprises to benefit from Google Cloud’s on-demand compute and AI and machine learning resources.
The cloud region will aim to provide high-performance and low-latency services and offer customers key controls that allow them to maintain high security, data residency, and compliance standards, including specific data storage requirements.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra commented: "Thailand is fast becoming a digital hub in Southeast Asia, propelled by a talented workforce and investments in technology infrastructure from industry leaders like Google.
"The Royal Thai Government deeply appreciates Google’s ongoing partnership to strengthen our digital economy, particularly its efforts in the past five years to train millions of Thais in critical digital skills, and its latest plans to equip even more citizens with the tools and knowledge needed for the jobs of tomorrow."
Google's investment in its data centre and cloud region in Chonburi and Bangkok respectively, coupled with growing Thai expertise in cloud computing and AI, align with Thailand's national Cloud First Policy. As the PM affirms, this synergy will "accelerate the development of innovative digital services and in turn unlock economic opportunities and enhance the quality of life for all Thais".
The above aside, as part of efforts to further support the country through its digital transformation, Google plans to further invest in and support AI skills development in Thailand, in partnership with local organisations, targetting 150,000 more Thais by 2026.
Lastly, to promote equitable advancements in AI from the outset, Google is collaborating with local Thai partners to enhance and open-source Thai language datasets for training large language models. This aims toenable the development of more robust and culturally representative language models for the region.
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