Bangkok remains Thailand’s main data centre hub, but infrastructure constraints and tighter regulatory requirements could push larger projects outside the capital, according to Kasikorn Research Center.
The research arm of Kasikorn Bank found that Thailand has 73 operating data centres.
Of the total, about 63% are in Bangkok, reflecting the continued concentration of demand in the capital, 14% are in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and the rest are in other locations.
Most facilities in Bangkok are relatively small, with average power demand of about 1.2 megawatts each.
A hyperscale data centre, by comparison, requires as much as 200MW, making locations outside the city with sufficient electricity, water and land more suitable for large projects.
According to data from the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Business Development, as of Aug 31, there were 1,184 existing data centre-related business entities registered across the three categories, comprising 574 in data management and processing, 517 in hosting services and 93 in web portals.
Bangkok accounted for 689 entities, or 58.2% of the total. Nonthaburi followed with 90, ahead of Chiang Mai with 46, Samut Prakan with 41 and Pathum Thani with 38. Phuket had 32 and Chon Buri 30.
According to the ministry, 909 entities were wholly Thai-owned, representing 76.7% of the total. Another 185, or 15.6%, had both Thai and foreign shareholders, while 90, or 7.6%, were wholly foreign-owned.
K-Research highlighted gaps in urban planning, infrastructure and safeguards for surrounding communities that make stronger regulation necessary.
Measures would include designated development zones, separate electricity tariffs for data centres, water management plans and standards covering fire safety, noise and heat.
K-Research suggested Bangkok should focus on smaller data centres that need to operate close to users, particularly those supporting services requiring low latency.
Both the size and number of projects should be aligned with local infrastructure capacity. Limiting individual project size alone could allow numerous small facilities to cluster together, creating a substantial combined burden on surrounding areas.
According to K-Research, oversight is expected to tighten both before and after facilities begin operating.
New projects would face more rigorous screening, while existing facilities would remain subject to safety inspections.
Development is also likely to spread to locations outside Bangkok where infrastructure can accommodate the sector’s requirements.
K-Research expects new electricity tariff rules to raise operating costs by reflecting the actual expense of supplying power and expanding the grid to support large loads requiring highly reliable electricity.
The aim is to ensure these costs are borne by data centre operators rather than passed on to general users.
K-Research estimates that an increase of 1 baht per kilowatt-hour from current tariffs could add about 10-14 million baht to annual electricity expenses for a Bangkok data centre with an average power demand of 1.2MW.