1-5-2024 (BANGKOK) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has unveiled ambitious plans to construct a cutting-edge cloud computing and artificial intelligence data centre in the Kingdom of Thailand, further expanding the tech giant’s sprawling global infrastructure footprint. The announcement was made on Wednesday during Nadella’s address at the “Microsoft Build: AI Day” event in Bangkok, attended by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha amidst the American executive’s multi-nation tour of Southeast Asia.
While specific details surrounding the project’s investment scope, physical location, and completion timeline remain undisclosed, Nadella confirmed the forthcoming Thai facility would be one of over 300 hyper-scale data centres Microsoft operates worldwide. The data hub is poised to bolster availability of the company’s cloud services within Thailand, offering enterprises and public sector entities high-performance computing capabilities compliant with stringent data residency and privacy regulations.
“Thailand has an incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Nadella proclaimed during his keynote address. “Our new data centre region, along with the investments we are making in cloud and AI infrastructure as well as AI skilling, build on our long-standing commitment to the country and will help Thai organisations across public and private sectors drive new impact and growth.”
The Thai data centre forms the latest plank in Microsoft’s overarching $1 billion investment roadmap for the region, hot on the heels of Tuesday’s $1.7 billion commitment towards similar AI and cloud infrastructure development in neighbouring Indonesia. Nadella is scheduled to conclude his Southeast Asian tour on Thursday with a visit to Malaysia.
Beyond the physical data centre itself, Microsoft has pledged to provide AI skills training for over 2.5 million individuals across ASEAN member nations by 2025, with an expected 100,000 beneficiaries in Thailand alone. Up to 6,000 Thai developers could be elevated to subject matter experts through earning Microsoft AI credentials under the initiative’s ambit.
The US software conglomerate cited soaring domestic demand for cloud services from businesses and government agencies as the core impetus propelling its accelerated investment into Thailand’s digital economy. “As many as 6,000 Thai developers could become AI subject matter experts by learning new skills and earning Microsoft credentials,” Nadella stated, revealing over 900,000 Thai software engineers had utilised the company’s GitHub platform in 2023 alone – a 24% year-on-year surge.
Nadella added that several major local firms and state bodies were already leveraging Microsoft’s generative AI solutions, name-checking the National Health Security Office, telecom giant AIS, financial services disruptor SCBX, and the nation’s Council of State as notable adopters of the company’s cutting-edge technological offerings.
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