In the first half of 2025, the data center business alone attracted a combined investment value of 521.2 billion baht (US$16.1 billion) from 28 projects, while the renewable energy sector saw 191 applications totalling 42.24 billion baht (US$1.3 billion) of investment amid soaring demand for cloud services, the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) announced recently in a press release published on its website.
In May and June, the board had approved six data center investment projects worth a total of 115.4 billion baht (US$3.57 billion) with a combined IT load of about 740 megawatts (MW), the board said in separate press releases.
The six data centers, which are all Tier 3, are as follows:
- Stratus Technology Co – 23.7 billion baht in Rayong Province (203 MW);
- Vistas Technology Co.,Ltd. – 6.85 billion baht in Chonburi Province (50 MW);
- Bridge Data Centres III (Thailand) Co.,Ltd. – 14.45 billion baht in Chonburi Province (80 MW);
- Digital Edge DC (Thailand) Co.,Ltd.- 24.52 billion baht in Chonburi Province (96 MW)
- Galaxy Peak Data Center Co.,Ltd. – 23.55 billion baht data in Rayong Province (160 MW)
- Galaxy Data Center Pte. Ltd., – 22.31 billion baht in Rayong province (150 MW)
Additionally, the Board also approved in May two wind power generation projects by local investors that will be selling electricity under power purchase agreements with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, namely Alpha One Project Co., Ltd. which will invest 3.2 billion baht to set up a facility in Chumphon Province with a 48 MW generation capacity, and Alpha Two Project Co., Ltd. which will invest 4.84 billion baht in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province to generate 70 MW.
Revised criteria
The Board also approved a revision of the requirements for investments in data centers, data hosting and cloud services. Some revisions include the following:
- To get the highest level of tax benefits, corporate income tax (CIT) exemption of eight years, the projects will need to meet power usage effectiveness (PUE) standards, and offer data hosting using advanced computing capabilities such as graphic processing units (GPU), etc. The tax benefits offered to other projects, not matching these requirements, will be capped at 5 years.
- Applicants will also be required to submit a plan detailing how the project will contribute to Thailand’s economy. The plan should include activities such as professional training, cooperation with local technical schools and universities in creating courses or conducting joint research and development projects, skill development programs for Thai SME entrepreneurs, support for strengthening the country’s supply chains, among others. Implementation of the proposed plan will have to be completed before a project can exercise its rights to CIT exemption.
In recent years, Thailand has attracted large amounts of investments in data centers and digital services, from companies as diverse as Amazon Web Services, Tik Tok, and NTT Data, especially in 2024 when it became for the first time the top-ranked sector in terms of investment value. The trend was confirmed in the first quarter of 2025, which saw a fivefold jump in digital sector applications from the year earlier period.
“The momentum of the demand for digital services should ensure that data center investments remain a highlight in terms of the value of applications this year,” said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, Secretary General of the BOI.
“The applications during the past six months confirm that our strategy to focus on high-tech and high-value sectors is paying off,” he said, adding: “The overall increase in both number of projects and investment value reflects investors’ confidence in Thailand’s potential and good economic fundamentals. I believe this will allow for full year 2025 applications to exceed last year’s performance.”
