(Sept 30): Alphabet Inc’s Google plans to invest US$1 billion (RM4.13 billion) to build data centres in Thailand, joining global tech companies in adding cloud and AI infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

The company will add facilities in Bangkok and Chonburi, a province southeast of the capital. The outlay could help add US$4 billion to Thailand’s economy by 2029 and support 14,000 jobs annually over the next five years, Google said Monday, citing a Deloitte study.

The investment was unveiled by Google and Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand’s recently appointed prime minister, underscoring the push by Southeast Asia’s governments to attract foreign tech firms. Long seen as a tech hinterland, the region of about 675 million people is fast emerging as a growth opportunity for Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Nvidia Corp and Amazon.com Inc, which are spending billions of dollars to ramp up AI data centres from Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore and Indonesia.

“We are investing in cloud regions, data centres and subsea cables across the region, building on our many years of work to bring cloud infrastructure closer to the people and organisations here,” Alphabet chief investment officer Ruth Porat said in an emailed response to questions ahead of an event with the prime minister in Bangkok. “This region holds great potential.”

Google has already announced billions of dollars in investment in Malaysia and Singapore this year. Amazon unveiled a US$9 billion outlay in Singapore in May, and Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella swung through the region unveiling a road map involving expenditures of about US$4 billion to build data centres and other infrastructure.

Governments around the world are trying to strike a balance between ensuring digital sovereignty and luring foreign investment. They are seeking to keep control of their citizens’ data and develop local tech firms, while leveraging global companies’ investment power and expertise to build AI and cloud infrastructure.

The new Thailand data centre capacity will help support Google’s AI-driven services such as search, maps and workspace. The company set up in Thailand 13 years ago, and says it has trained over 3.6 million students, educators, developers and small and medium businesses in digital skills in the past five years.

Google’s investment is aligned with the country’s cloud policies, Paetongtarn said in a statement. It’ll “accelerate the development of innovative digital services and in turn unlock economic opportunities,” she said.

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