Bangkok Emerges as SE Asia’s New Data Centre Powerhouse

Bangkok emerges swiftly as Southeast Asia’s vibrant data centre hub. The city surpasses 2.5 GW in IT capacity, placing it second only to Johor.

International operators and hyperscalers are attracted by the abundance of land, reliable power and the city's strategic central location connecting East and West.

The transformation marks a major development for Thailand’s data centres. Traditionally, these facilities were smaller and retail-oriented. However, over the last two years, the market shifted to vast campuses and multi-building projects. Development now extends beyond Bangkok to the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

Nicole Seah, Research Analyst at DC Byte, highlights the pace of activity in these new zones. “Given the scale of development expected this year, Chonburi’s capacity is tightening rapidly. Securing large-scale power allocations for 2026 may prove increasingly challenging, making early engagement essential.”

Global hyperscalers accelerate expansion

Bangkok's evolution into a hyperscale-ready market is driven by global cloud giants. AWS has declared a US$5bn investment, while Google commits to a US$1bn facility in Chonburi.

Moreover, Microsoft launches its first Thailand cloud region. Companies like Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent are also establishing or expanding their presence, while Bytedance pledges US$8.8bn.

This influx boosts local operators like STT GDC, Equinix, DAMAC Digital and Evolution Data Centres.

Between 2019 and 2024, Bangkok's total IT capacity sees a more than twentyfold increase, with pipeline capacity achieving a compound annual growth rate of about 40%.

Eastern Economic Corridor: The next frontier

The EEC emerges as Thailand's primary zone for hyperscale builds, with Chonburi and Rayong at the forefront.

These regions provide ample land, competitive prices and robust infrastructure links. Their proximity to ports and manufacturing hubs enhances their attractiveness for high-capacity, latency-sensitive workloads.

Chonburi quickly becomes the focal point for Thailand’s large-scale development. Major projects like DayOne’s 120 MW Chonburi Tech Park and Bridge Data Centres’ planned 200 MW campus will significantly bolster the country’s operational capacity in the next few years.

This growth prompts local and global operators to secure land and power allocations well in advance of demand.

Cloud and AI fuel demand

Cloud computing remains central to Thailand’s data centre expansion, forming around 38% of total capacity by the first quarter of 2025.

Hyperscaler deployments are shaping the market's evolution, while increasing AI needs drive demand further.

AI accounts for 28% of capacity by early 2025, up from 20% the preceding year. This rise is driven by AI training workloads, large language models (LLMs) and data-intensive business applications requiring dense infrastructure.

Collaborations with local entities are also ready Thailand for this evolving demand wave.

Efforts with Siam AI Corporation, an NVIDIA cloud partner, help design infrastructure tailored for AI-ready deployment.

These factors position Bangkok as a distinctive player in Southeast Asia's data landscape. The city's burgeoning capacity, coupled with the EEC's continued expansion, reinforces Thailand's status as a regional cloud hub and an emerging AI innovation centre.