Asia Plus Securities has issued a ‘Neutral’ recommendation for Thailand’s power sector following a policy decision to temporarily halt approval and construction of over 166 data center projects. The nation’s Data Center Policy Committee’s resolution affects 49 projects currently under construction and more than 117 projects pending approval, as the government establishes unified standards and regulations.
This framework, to be completed within a month, will cover economic, infrastructural, spatial, and environmental criteria. The committee emphasized that this is not an attempt to deter investment, but to better organize the sector and set a strategic national direction.
In the short term, the decision is expected to negatively impact sentiment for companies involved in the data center business due to concerns of project delays. However, Asia Plus views the impact as limited, as this is merely a regulatory pause and not a reflection of declining long-term demand for data centers.
On the other hand, the new regulatory standards in the long run are seen as positive for companies with strong existing infrastructure, as tighter regulations will help screen operators and benefit those best prepared to serve data center clients, according to the brokerage.
Recent inquiries with GULF and BGRIM, both of which already operate or are constructing data centers, confirm that their current projects are not among the 166 affected by the pause. GULF operates a 25MW data center in Samut Prakan and is developing 38MW more in the EEC, with further expansion planned. BGRIM is constructing a 96MW data center in the EEC, with the first 48MW phase expected to partially commence operations in 4Q26.
For GPSC, EGCO, and RATCH, the impact is also seen as minimal since these companies are still in the study phase or planning to repurpose existing assets for future data center use, with no ongoing construction projects currently.
Asia Plus maintains a positive long-term view for the power sector’s data center investment theme, expecting the new regulations to foster a more selective and infrastructure-ready field of providers, instead of encouraging rushed competition. GULF (fair value THB 80.00 per share) and BGRIM (THB 22.00) are selected as top picks due to their clear progress in the data center business and non-involvement in the delayed projects.
