Google has announced $1 billion investment into the construction of a data center in Thailand to help meet growing cloud storage and AI tool load demands in Southeast Asia (SEA).
The news, per Reuters, comes hot on the heels of Google Cloud announcing a multi-year deal to provide sovereign cloud services to Malaysia this week, as well as a $2 billion investment towards the construction of a data center as its first inroad into SEA back in May 2024.
The Thai data center will be based in Chonburi, while the cloud region (i.e. infrastructure dedicated to providing services to businesses and organizations) will be based in Bangkok.
Southeast Asia and cloud expansion
“Google’s cloud and data center infrastructure in Bangkok and Chonburi will help meet growing demand for Google Cloud capabilities and AI innovations, and the company’s popular digital services – such as Search, Maps, and Google Workspace,” Google said in a statement, citing a study by Deloitte claiming 14,000 jobs would be created by the investment over the next five years.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Google Cloud is partnering with local technology firm DAgang NeXchange Berhad (DNeX) to address growing cloud demands while also operating within the country’s stringent data protection laws relating to residency and privacy.
To this end, DNeX will run Google Distributed Cloud to provide “air-gapped” services – that don’t have to connect to a Google cloud region – to Malaysian customers.
It’s unclear if this is just a temporary solution while Google’s construction project gets underway, and in a joint statement, neither company gave a timeframe or valuation for the deal.
Karan Bajwa, Google Cloud Asia Pacific’s VP, did say, “Google Cloud and DNeX will empower organizations with the state-of-the-art distributed cloud infrastructure, developer tools, and AI services they need to drive digital transformation on their own terms.”
Both companies confirmed they were considering opening a facility for training up local talent in AI skills.
Google isn’t the only tech giant eyeing up SEA as a growth market for cloud, with Microsoft also announcing similar plans to open a Thailand-based data center in May 2024, citing demand and availability concerns, alongside spurring economic growth.