Thailand’s Data Center (DC) Policy Committee yesterday approved the draft policy on data center governance which will be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration soon, according to local reports. The draft policy establishes a regulatory framework for investment and operation of data centers with the goal of ensuring the efficient and sustainable development of the country’s digital economy. The draft policy is reportedly scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 3 November 2026.
The most important draft policy which has so far not been officially stated in Thailand is the definition of a data center in Thai context. The draft policy defines a data center to include buildings, premises, or structures that possess and use electronic equipment to provide services related to the collection, storage, processing, reception, or transmission of data electronically to persons other than affiliated companies, with a minimum electricity requirement of 0.5 megawatts (MW).
The second most important draft policy is the establishment of a one-stop center to coordinate approvals and licensing. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society has been tasked to develop the TH-DC Dashboard system to consolidate the approval and licensing from various government agencies into a single system. This will facilitate more systematic project status tracking and coordination between agencies.
The third most important draft policy is the establishment of four minimum standards for the data center operators to ensure basic business conditions are met including not impacting the safety of life and property of the public especially the surrounding communities.
The four minimum standards include the following:
- Location and land use, including land use plans and oil reserve storage for electricity generation.
- Connecting the country’s public utility networks, including both the electricity and water systems.
- Environmental standards require the preparation of a Code of Practice (CoP) report.
- Creating economic and social contributions to ensure that investments generate benefits for the country and communities.
New DC classification
Data centers will be classified into 7 levels based on their power demand, as detailed below:
Level 1: 0–0.5 MW
Level 2: More than 0.5–5 MW
Level 3: More than 5–10 MW
Level 4: More than 10–20 MW
Level 5: More than 20–50 MW
Level 6: More than 50–200 MW
Level 7: 200 MW and above.
Each level will have different levels of requirements based on size and resource needs. Subcommittee 1 is tasked with developing detailed procedures and processes for approval and licensing.
Since the minimum standard requirements are additional requirements to the announcements, regulations, and laws currently used by various agencies, new laws will be drafted or current laws amended before the minimum standards can be enforced. This is expected to take approximately 8–12 months.
Guidelines during transition period
At the same time, the new regulations, in principle, cannot be immediately applied retroactively to contractors who have already constructed and obtained licenses in accordance with the law prevailing at the time. Therefore, the committee established guidelines for oversight during the transition period, divided according to four project statuses as follows:
1. Data centers that are already in operation.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is tasked with drafting legislation to require businesses to comply with the Communities of Practice (CoP) that the Policy Committee will announce. This must be completed within one year, and CoP documents must be submitted through the DC-OSS system according to the specified procedures.
- Data centers that received construction permits before August 11, 2026, and have been completed, are ready to open for service.
For projects that received construction permits under Form A.1 or were implemented under Section 39 before August 11, 2026, the date the relevant Prime Minister’s Office regulations came into effect, the responsible agencies shall consider approving and granting permits in accordance with the current laws, announcements, and regulations in force.
Agencies must notify the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society of the decision through the DC-OSS system within five days. Once it has been verified that the approval and licensing are complete, the Ministry will notify the operators to begin operations, provided they comply with the CoP (Community of Practice) within 1 year and submit the necessary documents through the DC-OSS system according to the procedures.
- Data centers that have received construction permits from August 11, 2026 onwards, or those that have not yet received construction permits.
This group of projects will be considered new businesses that must comply with minimum requirements.
- Data centers that are already operational and have plans to expand their power capacity.
If the system’s capacity is expanded to the point where the total electricity demand increases by more than 20MW, the expanded portion shall be considered a new project and must comply with the same minimum standards.
However, because the projects in the new entrant group and the electricity expansion projects have different progress levels, the committee assigned Subcommittee 1 to consider approval and licensing guidelines for both groups during the transition period and to complete this within one month.
One-Stop Service system
With regards to consideration of new data center projects, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society has been tasked with expediting the drafting of legislation to integrate the management and regulation of data center operations into a single system. The initial approach will involve soliciting data center investment proposals in rounds and selecting proposals through a pitching process, using a One-Stop Service for Data Centers (DC-OSS) mechanism as a central hub for coordination and data connectivity.
The DC-OSS system will work in conjunction with the TH-DC Dashboard to collect databases, monitor status, track and evaluate project progress, and conduct preliminary project proposal screening before submitting them to the relevant screening committee for consideration and selection according to the criteria to be announced by the Policy Committee.
In addition, the committee assigned Subcommittee 1 to expedite the development of criteria for selecting data center projects, to be submitted to the committee for consideration in accordance with the established procedures.
Green Data Centers to support Net Zero by 2050
The guidelines have the objective of supporting investment in data center development in line with the country’s development direction and goals, focusing on the following issues:
- Promoting Green Data Centers supports the development of environmentally friendly data centers to help drive the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
- Support the procurement ofresources for internal use, either in part or in whole, to meet the resource requirements of projects.
- Maintain the quality and continuity of service by monitoring and ensuring that operators comply with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
- To create added economic and social value, promote domestic employment, encourage the use of domestically produced parts and components, and support investment in digital and related industries.
- The establishment of regulatory guidelines and selection criteria for data center investments aims to ensure that the expansion of digital infrastructure proceeds in parallel with the management of energy, resources, the environment, and economic and social benefits, in order to support the long-term development of Thailand’s digital economy.
The meeting was chaired by Ekniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Thailand reportedly has about 63 operating facilities, 20 under construction and more than 100 proposed projects with preliminary combined electricity requirements of approximately 3GW.