Gulf Edge Company Limited (Gulf Edge), the digital infrastructure arm of Gulf Group, and Google Cloud last week signed a partnership agreement for the latter to provide AI infrastructure services to Gulf Group and its affiliates, including AIS. The move is significant as Gulf Group’s chief executive officer, Sarath Ratanavadi, an energy tycoon, seeks to build a full stack digital ecosystem spanning energy, virtual banking, telecommunications and data services after consolidating his power and telecom units last year, as reported by Singapore Business Times.
As part of the ecosystem buildup, Gulf Development, which is considered Thailand’s largest power producer, has been increasing investments in data centres by partnering with Microsoft and Singapore Telecommunications, amongst others.
The agreement will see both parties collaborating to provide AI infrastructure to private and government sectors including those in the financial, healthcare and telecommunications sectors, as well as sovereign AI and cloud services. It brings together Gulf Edge’s digital infrastructure leadership, AIS’s extensive network reach, and Google Cloud’s fully integrated AI technology stack to equip organizations across Thailand to innovate at scale with cloud and AI, the report said. Advanced Info Service (AIS) is Thailand’s leading mobile and fixed broadband operator.
Core to the partnership will be the establishment of a specialized data analytics and AI Center of Excellence (CoE) focused on building deep technical and implementation expertise within Gulf Edge, said Google’s press release. By upskilling a dedicated cohort of Gulf Edge experts, the CoE will serve as a launchpad; starting with the Gulf Group and expanding as a catalyst for large-scale AI adoption by all organizations across Thailand.
“This expanded partnership with Google Cloud marks a significant milestone in our journey to build a future-ready digital ecosystem for Thailand. It positions Gulf Group and affiliates at the forefront of AI-driven transformation, with a clear objective to pioneer secure, sovereign, and agentic AI solutions for Thai businesses. This collaboration will ignite Thailand’s growth engine in digital industry, build local talents, and open up new business opportunities in line with global AI trend. By combining our infrastructure strengths and strong delivery capabilities with Google’s world-class technology, we aim to empower both the public and private sectors with transformative AI capabilities that elevate national digital competitiveness and drive long-term equitable economic and GDP growth,” said Sarath Ratanavadi, CEO of Gulf Development Public Company Limited.
Karthik Narain, Chief Product and Business Officer, Google Cloud, said, “AI presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform how we work, run our businesses, and what we build for our customers. We’re proud to partner with Gulf Edge to help accelerate Thailand’s journey toward an AI-driven future, and to give every Thai organization the agility to solve complex challenges and the scale to turn bold ideas into reality.”
Google is in the midst of carrying out plans to spend US$1 billion in Thai data centres.