Thailand's digital infrastructure investment could approach 641 billion baht in 2030, the Bangkok Post reported, as growth in data centers and artificial intelligence brings power and water demands under scrutiny.
The National Board of Digital Economy and Society (BDE) projects annual public and private investment will rise from 335 billion baht in 2026 to 641 billion baht in 2030, according to the Bangkok Post. The newspaper reported a 17.6% compound annual growth rate.
Private firms are expected to invest 320.6 billion baht, or 95.7% of the 2026 total, the report said. It puts public investment that year at 14.4 billion baht. For 2030, it projects 391 billion baht for data centers and cloud services and 141 billion baht for artificial intelligence.
At the BDE's Oct. 19-20 forum in Bangkok, the deputy digital economy and society minister described the government's role as providing technology infrastructure to support private businesses, according to the board's announcement.
Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) said in an Aug. 6 release that it had approved 42 data center projects since 2024, representing 750 billion baht in investment and 3,400 megawatts of IT load. Those project approvals are a different measure from the reported forecast of annual investment across digital infrastructure.
The BOI also said, as of Aug. 6, that it had received no new applications for data center investment incentives since April 2026. It is reviewing future projects' electricity and water demands, environmental effects and benefits to Thai workers and suppliers.
The National Energy Policy Council approved a separate electricity-user category for data centers so higher rates can be set to reflect power supply and grid costs, the BOI said. The agency said the approach is intended to prevent those costs from falling on other electricity users.
