Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai Government has approved new criteria to regulate data centre operations amid rapid growth in the sector, fuelled by investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital economy infrastructure.
The new rules focus on controlling investment scale, electricity and water consumption, environmental impacts, and preventing investors from reserving resource quotas beyond their actual needs.
Under the policy approved by the Cabinet on November 10, data centres are classified into seven categories based on electricity capacity, ranging from below 0.5 MW to 200 MW or more. Facilities with capacity below 20 MW (categories 2–4) may be located in areas zoned for commercial use and are not required to operate within industrial estates, but must comply with environmental codes of practice.
Those with capacity of 20 MW or more (categories 5–7) must be located within industrial estates.
The Government will not require data centres to prepare separate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports. Instead, their operational impacts will be regulated through codes of practice. Standards include limiting noise from backup generators to 70 dBA at facility boundaries, controlling temperature increases to 1–2 degrees Celsius, using water in recirculating cooling systems and testing wastewater quality before discharge. Facilities in industrial estates must continue to comply with existing EIA requirements applicable to those areas.
To ensure coordinated management, the Government will establish an One Stop Service (OSS) centre, tasking the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) with developing its organisational structure and identifying relevant agencies. The centre will be responsible for receiving and processing licence applications, appraise projects and build a nationwide database of data centres.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said data centres are essential infrastructure for the digital economy and AI technologies, helping enhance Thailand's competitiveness. However, given their substantial electricity and water consumption and potential impacts on the environment and local communities, a unified regulatory framework is necessary.
The Thai Government has identified three main objectives: enhancing transparency and public and investor confidence through a nationwide data centre database; establishing appropriate transitional arrangements to allow existing businesses to continue operating while meeting new standards; and ensuring future investments generate tangible added value for the economy.
Beyond investment capital, the criteria will focus on job creation, workforce training, greater participation by domestic businesses in supply chains, technology development, environmental protection and data sovereignty.
Through the new regulations, Thailand aims to shift from a policy focused primarily on attracting investment towards a more systematic approach to data centre management, linking project scale with infrastructure capacity, resource efficiency and domestic economic benefits./.
