Nvidia Corporation is poised to announce its investment plans for Thailand, joining industry giants Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp., as Southeast Asia emerges as a pivotal region for establishing AI data centers and producing the necessary components to power them.
The U.S.-based chip design company will make its investment announcement during CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to Bangkok in December, according to Thailand’s Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan. However, Pichai did not provide specifics on the investment details or the financial scale of Nvidia’s contribution to Thailand.
In an interview with Bloomberg late Monday, Pichai suggested that Nvidia’s investment might pave the way for additional investments through “related clusters.”
Securing Nvidia as an investor is seen as a significant boost for Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which is in competition with neighboring countries to attract investments from major tech players. In recent years, Thailand has attracted multibillion-dollar investments from companies like Amazon.com Inc., Google, and Microsoft for constructing data centers and other cloud infrastructures.
Historically a manufacturing hub for the automotive and electronics industries, Thailand is now racing to catch up with Malaysia and Singapore. The nation aims to enhance its growth, which averaged less than 2% during a decade of military-backed governance.
Interest from Nvidia and other technology companies, as well as from entities in the supply chain, could help return investment applications to pre-2014 coup levels and assist Thailand in reclaiming “lost opportunities” from that decade, Pichai noted.
“The outlook for the Thai economy is bright and this is only the beginning,” remarked Pichai.
There has already been a notable surge in foreign investment commitments this year, particularly in the establishment of data centers and printed circuit board manufacturing. Official records indicate that investment pledges have soared by 42% to 722.5 billion baht ($21.6 billion) in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the previous year.
Nvidia has been expanding its territory in 2024 with the initiation in the beginning of the year by pairing with Singapore telco provider Singtel to deploy AI capabilities in its data centers across Asia.
In the second quarter, Nvidia said that it will partner with the telecommunications firm Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, aiming to boost local telecommunications infrastructure and digital talent.
In the final quarter of 2024, the tech giant will announce its partnership with Thailand to establish a data center that could potentially provide service for the whole region.
