谷歌的这一投资计划与泰国新任总理Paetongtarn Shinawatra共同宣布，显示了东南亚政府吸引外国科技公司的努力。东南亚，这个拥有约6.75亿人口的地区，正迅速成为科技巨头的新战场。苹果、微软、英伟达和亚马逊等公司也在积极投资，以在泰国、马来西亚、新加坡和印度尼西亚等地投入数十亿美元建设人工智能数据中心。Global technology companies are competing to win customers in Southeast Asia, and Google is not to be outdone. On Monday, it announced a $1 billion investment to expand its datacenter in Bangkok and Chonburi Province, Thailand.
Global technology giant Google announced plans to invest $1 billion in Thailand to establish advanced datacenters, strengthening its cloud computing and ai infrastructure in Southeast Asia.
Google's datacenters will be located in Bangkok and Chonburi province. According to Deloitte's research, this investment is expected to create 0.014 million job opportunities in Thailand annually over the next five years, and may contribute up to $4 billion in economic growth by 2029.
Google's investment plan, announced jointly with Thailand's newly appointed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, demonstrates the efforts of Southeast Asian governments to attract foreign technology companies. With a population of around 0.675 billion, Southeast Asia is rapidly becoming a new battleground for technology giants. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon are also actively investing billions of dollars in setting up ai datacenters in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Alphabet's Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat mentioned in an email, "We are investing in building cloud service regions, datacenters, and undersea cables across the region, as part of our long-standing efforts to bring cloud infrastructure closer to local communities and organizations. This region has enormous growth potential."
Google has already announced investment plans of billions of dollars in Malaysia and Singapore this year. In May, Amazon announced a $9 billion investment plan in Singapore, while Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella disclosed a plan during his tour of the Southeast Asian region involving around $4 billion in expenditure to build datacenters and other infrastructure.
Governments worldwide are striving to find a balance between safeguarding digital sovereignty and attracting foreign investment. Their aim is to protect citizen data, nurture local tech companies, and utilize the investments and expertise of global corporations to develop ai and cloud computing infrastructure.
The new datacenters in Thailand will support Google's ai services, including search engines, map services, and workspace. Since entering the Thai market 13 years ago, Google has trained over 3.6 million students, educators, developers, and small businesses in the past five years to enhance their digital skills.
Paetongtarn stated in the declaration that Google's investment is in line with Thailand's cloud policy and will "accelerate the development of innovative digital services, thereby stimulating economic opportunities."
