The Board approved a revision and improvement of the requirements and benefits for investments in data centers, data hosting and cloud services aimed to more appropriately reflect recent technological developments, to be more commensurate to the actual investment amount, and to ensure the projects contribute clearer benefits to Thailand’s economy, while helping workforce development and the appropriate management of natural and energy resources.
To get the highest level of tax benefits, CIT exemption for 8 years, the projects will need to meet power usage effectiveness (PUE) standards, and offer data hosting using advanced computing capabilities such as graphic processing units (GPU), etc. The tax benefits offered to other projects, not matching these requirements, will be capped at 5 years.
Applicants for investment promotion in this sector will also be required to submit a plan detailing how the project will contribute to Thailand’s economy. The plan should include activities such as professional training, cooperation with local technical schools and universities in creating courses or conducting joint research and development projects, skill development programs for Thai SME entrepreneurs, support to the strengthening of the country’s supply chains, etc. Implementation of the proposed plan will have to be completed before a project can exercise its rights to CIT exemption.
As of the first quarter of this year, the BOI had already granted investment promotion benefits to 27 data center projects, representing a combined investment of 240.6 billion baht. When including the 126.8 billion baht investment in a data hosting project which was approved earlier this year, the total of the approved investments in the data center and data-hosting sector as of end-March amounted to 367.4 billion baht, and represented a combined IT Load of approximately 1,365 megawatts (MW).
Additionally, the Board also granted investment promotion benefits to a total of seven projects. These include five new data center projects, all Tier 3 standard, which represent a combined investment of 91.7 billion baht, and a combined IT load of approximately 536 MW. The two wind power generation projects also approved today meanwhile represent a combined investment of some 8 billion baht, and a total generation capacity of 118 MW, as per the following details:
- Vistas Technology Co.,Ltd. received approval for a 6.85 billion baht data center project, with an IT load of approximately 50 MW, to be located in Chonburi Province.
- Bridge Data Centres III (Thailand) Co.,Ltd. received approval for a 14.45 billion baht data center project, with an IT load of approximately 80 MW, to be located in Chonburi Province.
- Digital Edge DC (Thailand) Co.,Ltd. received approval for a 24.52 billion baht data center project, with an IT load of approximately 96 MW, to be located in Chonburi Province.
- Galaxy Peak Data Center Co.,Ltd. received approval for a 23.55 billion baht data center project, with an IT load of approximately 160 MW, to be located in Rayong Province.
- Galaxy Data Center Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based Chinese invested company, received approval for a 22.31 billion baht data center project, with an IT load of approximately 150 MW. The project will be located in Rayong Province.
- The Board also approved two wind power generation projects by local investors that will be selling electricity under power purchase agreements with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, namely Alpha One Project Co., Ltd. which will invest 3.2 billion baht to setup a facility in Chumphon Province with a 48 MW generation capacity, and Alpha Two Project Co., Ltd. which will invest 4.84 billion baht in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province to generate 70 MW.
