Thailand boosts cloud budget to 1 billion baht amid political shifts

Thailand’s cloud-first policy will remain intact, despite the recent political changes, according to the caretaker Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry. The appointment of new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has led to only minor adjustments in government policies.

A significant increase in the fiscal 2025 budget for state agencies’ procurement of cloud services has been announced, rising to 1 billion baht from 200 million baht this year, as confirmed by the ministry.

The constitutional court dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday, August 14, for an ethics violation.

We expect the government transition to cause minor changes and be resolved quickly, as our key policies will continue as stated caretaker DES Minister Prasert Jantararungtong during a keynote speech at the Huawei Cloud Summit Thailand 2024 event.

Prasert reassured that the ministry will continue overseeing the cloud-first policy committee. The fiscal 2025 budget remains unaffected, having already passed the first round of the House of Representatives’ vetting, with only the second and third rounds pending.

The cloud-first policy is a crucial part of Thailand’s Ignite Vision, aimed at establishing the country as a regional digital economy hub.

Ministry plans

Permanent DES Secretary Wisit Wisitsora-At indicated that the ministry plans to amend the cloud procurement regulations to support a utility-based model for cloud services. This amendment is expected to be finalised next year.

Additionally, the ministry will introduce a cloud management platform to facilitate connections between cloud providers and government agencies. This platform will enable visibility of related data, cloud service types, and pricing, said Wisit.

“By this year, we will see some government agencies moving to the cloud system. At least 10% of government e-services, including paperless services related to 50,000 government officers, and all government websites will be on the cloud.”

He added that the cloud-first policy is designed not only for domestic use but also to serve neighbouring countries. Thailand has set standards for cloud services to ensure security, availability, and data classifications for agencies procuring these services.

The President of global marketing and sales service at Huawei Cloud, Jacqueline Shi, highlighted Thailand’s strategic importance for the company. She stated that Thailand ranks among Huawei’s top five global markets in revenue.

Huawei Cloud selected Thailand as the first country outside mainland China to establish a data centre region, with three data centres now supporting the local market. Since 2018, Huawei has invested 5.5 billion baht in building cloud infrastructure in Thailand.

Continued investment

The Chief Executive of Huawei Technologies Thailand, David Li, affirmed the company’s continued investment in Thailand to support its business growth.

“We are the fastest-growing cloud service provider and are ranked No.1 in terms of hybrid cloud market share as of December 2023 in Thailand. ”

He mentioned that Huawei is also investing in supporting cloud startups and local partners while cultivating 20,000 local talents at leading universities and in government. Huawei Cloud currently collaborates with over 300 local software service providers.

Despite the recent political changes, Huawei remains committed to long-term investment in Thailand.

Shi also pointed out that Huawei offers its artificial intelligence solutions and Pangu large language model (LLM) in Thailand.

“As we bring industry knowledge solutions from China to assist in increasing Thailand’s competitiveness in digital government, retail, logistics, finance and media, as innovations flourish here.”

Huawei’s ecosystem encompasses chips, hardware, and software to support cloud services and can be integrated with other technologies, reported Bangkok Post.