Dubai’s Damac Group to spend US$1 billion in Thai data centre push
A SUBSIDIARY of Dubai-based Damac Group is investing around US$1 billion in a data centre project in Thailand, the latest to join a global push by technology companies to build cloud and AI infrastructure in South-east Asia.
Damac’s United Arab Emirates-headquartered Edgnex Data Centers plans to invest more than 32 billion baht (S$1.3 billion) in three to four data centre projects though a joint venture with local data centre provider Proen Corp, the companies said in a statement on Friday (Oct 11). The first, to be located in downtown Bangkok, will go online by March with an initial 5 megawatts (MW) of capacity, to be expanded to 20 MW.
The investment follows a plan by Alphabet’s Google to spend US$1 billion to build data centres in Thailand to meet surging demand for artificial intelligence.
That move is widely expected to bolster the kingdom’s attempts to kickstart a sputtering economy, which has been plagued by high household debt.
South-east Asia, with its population of about 685 million people, is fast emerging as a growth opportunity for Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon, which are spending billions of dollars on AI infrastructure in the region.
Damac will expand the Bangkok data centre’s capacity as the government beefs up initiatives to build a digital economy, the group’s founder Hussain Sajwani said in an interview.
“As the demand is cooking up and growing, we will be looking to launch that – that’s a gradual process,” he said.
Potential clients include hyperscalers and AI-related businesses, as well as government agencies, he said. Damac has a pipeline of approximately 100 megawatts of future data centre capacity.
The company also plans to invest in high-end residential projects, Sajwani said, adding that Damac’s foray into Thailand could pave the way for other Dubai-based companies to invest in the South-east Asian country. BLOOMBERG
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