Countries / Asia-Pacific and Middle East
Thailand
Thailand has paused data centre approvals and some construction while it drafts national minimum standards and a higher power tariff.
Investment Board approvals for data centres were large in 2025, but in July 2026 the Board set up an energy screening subcommittee chaired by the Energy Minister, and press reported on 4 September 2026 that construction at about 49 projects and decisions on more than 117 others are on hold while criteria are drafted. The Finance Minister has said data centres will have to pay more for electricity and that subcommittees must finish minimum standards by the end of September 2026. For someone seeking compute, new capacity in Thailand is in a regulatory reset; check each project's status before relying on it.
AI policy and activity
The National AI Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2027) was approved by Cabinet in July 2022 with five pillars including national infrastructure. A unified AI law is being drafted but has not been enacted, per a March 2026 law-firm article.
Power and grid
Reported. The Nation (27 July 2026): the Finance Minister said 16 projects have confirmation that electricity can be supplied; planned measures are a bank guarantee for electricity allocation, a possible new data centre tariff and a Power and Water Map steering projects away from the Eastern Economic Corridor. BOI approved 26 data centre projects worth THB 498.7 billion in 2025 and eight worth THB 162 billion in 2026, per the same report.
Data centres and compute
| Site | Where | Status | Notes and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Datasection GPU hosting infrastructure Datasection (Thailand) Co., Ltd., subsidiary of Japan's Datasection Inc. | Bangkok and Pathum Thani | Planned | Primary. BOI approved USD 235.2 million (THB 7.8 billion) for high-performance GPU server infrastructure for data hosting. Approval only; operation not confirmed. (source) |
Rules and programmes
| Instrument | Kind | Status | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| BOI screening subcommittee for data centre investment | Policy | In force from 14 July 2026 | Primary. BOI expanded its energy panel into a Subcommittee on Energy Management for Data Center Investment and Project Screening, chaired by the Minister of Energy, to assess resource use, environmental impact and clean energy sourcing before incentives. Date is that of the press report; the BOI page read is undated. |
| BOI data centre promotion conditions | Tax or incentive | In force from 1 July 2025 | Primary for the BOI decision on higher technology and human-resource conditions for foreign data centre investors. The 1 July 2025 application date comes from a Tilleke and Gibbins digest (https://www.tilleke.com/insights/data-center-investments-under-thailands-updated-incentive-criteria/). |
| National hold on data centre approvals pending minimum standards | Policy | In force from 4 September 2026 | Reported. The Nation: national data centre committee meeting on 4 September 2026; follow-up of 11 September (https://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40070924) says standards are due by end-September 2026, with siting outside city centres and higher electricity charges planned. Temporary, and not yet a published rule. |
| National AI Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2027) | Policy | In force from 1 July 2022 | Reported. Law-firm digest (27 March 2026): Cabinet approved in July 2022; day of month not confirmed. |
Checked on 2 October 2026 and due for review by 1 January 2027. Many sources are trade press or law-firm summaries rather than official texts, and statuses such as reported or unconfirmed are shown as the source gives them. This is a summary, not legal advice. If something is wrong or out of date, tell us.