Thai government and Google partnership to boost digital economy

The Thai government announced a strategic partnership with Google to bolster the country’s digital economy and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI). The agreement, unveiled at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting, seeks to enhance Thailand’s digital infrastructure, encourage the secure and responsible adoption of AI, anchor cloud-first policies, and make digital skills more accessible to Thai citizens.

Google Cloud has confirmed that its upcoming Thailand cloud region will be situated in Bangkok. In tandem with Microsoft’s expected investment in data centres, this forms part of a broader push from US tech companies to minimise the risk of geopolitical supply chain impacts.

Google’s long-standing investment in Thailand, spanning over a decade, has seen significant returns. The company’s products and programmes have supported over a quarter of a million jobs in 2022 alone. Moreover, Google has directly and indirectly contributed an estimated US$4.3 billion in economic benefits to local businesses.

Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin welcomed the partnership with the tech giants.

“The partnership with Google is a significant step forward in fulfilling the government’s vision of transforming sectors of high relevance to Thai citizens, businesses and investors through cloud-first policies while creating a safer cyberspace.”

Ruth Porat, chief investment officer at Alphabet and Google, echoed these sentiments, stating that the collaboration aims to strengthen Thailand’s digital competitiveness and further its digital transformation, reported Bangkok Post.

First cloud region

Google is exploring the potential for a new in-country data centre to support digital services. The company has also confirmed that the first cloud region in Thailand will be located in Bangkok.

This move is expected to bring Google Cloud technologies closer to local organisations, bolstering the delivery of digital services. Google estimates that the cloud region could contribute over US$4.1 billion to local GDP by 2030 and support the creation of over 50,000 jobs.

The second pillar of the agreement focuses on accelerating public-sector AI adoption and strengthening cybersecurity. The government and Google Cloud are looking to join forces to explore the use of generative AI and potentially create a National CyberShield Alliance.

This alliance would leverage automation, analytics, threat intelligence and AI to defend against sophisticated cyber-attacks on critical national infrastructure.

The third and fourth pillars pertain to Google supporting the development of a Go Cloud-first strategy for Thailand and making digital and cloud skills more accessible to Thais. As part of the latter, Google is offering 12,000 additional Google Career Certificate scholarships under its Samart Skills programme.

Earlier, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin revealed that the country is expecting an investment of at least US$5 billion from Tesla, Google and Microsoft. Furthermore, he has invited HP Inc., to set up a regional office and production base to develop a supply chain in Thailand, with further discussions planned for later this month.