By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-03-15 09:02:36 | Updated at 2025-03-15 12:26:47
4 hours ago
BANGKOK – Thailand aims to slash electricity costs by more than 25 per cent by 2026 to emerge as a hub for data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, according to Mr Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto chief of the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
The government headed by his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra plans to bring down the electricity tariff to about 8 US cents (S$0.11) per unit from about 11 cents now, Mr Thaksin told a business seminar in Bangkok late on March 14. He did not elaborate on how the government would slash the rate, which is currently subsidised by state utilities.
Thailand has secured billions of dollars in investment commitments from tech majors including Amazon.com, Alphabet’s Google, ByteDance’s TikTok and Alibaba Group to build projects for large data centres and cloud services. Building on that success would depend on the country’s ability to offer clean and cheap energy, Mr Thaksin said.
“We want to be competitive in data centres and AI,” Mr Thaksin said, adding that he has been talking to many people who want to invest in Thailand in these areas. “So we need to have more green energy that’s not too expensive.”
While Mr Thaksin does not hold any official position in his daughter’s administration, the two-time premier is viewed by many as shaping the government’s major policy initiatives.
Mr Thaksin said Thailand’s ability to slash the electricity cost to 2 to 6 cents per unit – a level seen as ideal by some investors – is limited by its reliance on fossil fuel and natural gas imports for power generation.
Thailand currently charges 4.15 baht (S$0.17) per unit of electricity on both commercial and household users. Mr Thaksin said it was possible to bring it down to 2.50 baht step by step.
Mr Thaksin said his dream was to convert an area in Bangkok to house data centres of every country in the world, followed by an AI hub.
The return of a civilian government in 2023 after a decade of military-backed rule saw foreign companies ramp up investment in electric vehicles, advanced electronics manufacturing and diverse tech services. Investment pledges from foreign and domestic companies totalled 1.14 trillion baht in 2024, the highest in a decade. BLOOMBERG
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