Thailand's data centres race to keep up with AI demand
Power and cooling, not floor space, are now the limit for new capacity.
· 1 min read
BANGKOK — Demand for computing power is pushing operators to expand faster than planned. Engineers say power and cooling, not floor space, are now the limit.
Power is the bottleneck
Operators are negotiating directly with utilities and looking at liquid cooling for new halls. Several projects announced this year have already doubled their planned capacity.
Industry groups estimate that AI training clusters draw three to five times more power per rack than the cloud servers they replace.
“We plan around megawatts now, not racks.”
The next phase depends on how quickly new grid capacity is approved, and whether renewable supply contracts can keep pace.
What changes for businesses
- More local capacity means lower latency for Thai users.
- Prices for colocation are rising in the short term.
- Data-residency rules under the PDPA favour local hosting.
For now, operators say demand shows no sign of slowing.
