Industrial estate developer WHA Corporation Plc is conducting a feasibility study for a new industrial estate dedicated to data centres, cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI).
Chief executive Pajongwit Pongsivapai said the project will be located in the Eastern Economic Corridor and will be known as the "data centre industrial estate".
"This estate will support investors, particularly foreign companies. We are in talks with a major data centre operator that wants to invest in Thailand and acquire additional industrial land," he said.
WHA is also working with the government to ensure infrastructure readiness. Data centres require substantial electricity and water supplies to operate, making advanced grid infrastructure and renewable energy integration essential.
"We expect this project will require around 1,000 megawatts of green energy. We would like the government to prepare the grid," Mr Pajongwit said.
Industry Minister Varawut Silpa-archa recently noted that the government is cautious about approving data centre projects, citing concerns over their high resource consumption and environmental impact.
Despite these concerns, WHA sees data centres as a new economic driver aligned with Thailand's S-curve policy, which refers to industries that represent future growth engines, moving beyond traditional manufacturing into advanced sectors such as digital technology, AI and clean energy.
Simply put, S-curve industries are those expected to drive economic transformation.
WHA expects to finalise a deal in the first half of this year with a foreign investor seeking more than 100 rai of industrial land for data centre development.
For 2026, WHA set a land sales target of 2,500 rai across its industrial estates, including 2,300 rai in Thailand and 200 rai in Vietnam.
The company, which also operates logistics, utilities and power businesses, earmarked an investment budget of 15-16 billion baht this year, with more than 9 billion allocated to industrial estates, 3.7 billion to logistics, and the remainder to renewable energy and digital technology ventures.
Looking ahead, WHA anticipates Thailand's investment outlook in the second half of 2026 will benefit from the relocation of capital from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, particularly in data centres, automotive and electronics.
