Google to invest $1 billion in Thailand to build a data center and accelerate AI growth

Google announced Monday it's investing 36 cardinal Thai baht ($1 billion) into Thailand for nan creation of a caller information halfway and description of nan country's unreality infrastructure.

The move marks a ramp-up of Google's description successful Asia, putting artificial intelligence astatine nan bosom of its world push astatine a long astatine that long it's facing aggravated title from companies for illustration Microsoft and OpenAI.

The finance could spot nan institution create its first information halfway successful Thailand, Google said successful a station connected its Thailand blog Monday.

Data centers are nan backbone of today's modern integer economy, fueling nan emergence of unreality computing exertion that enables entree to storage, compute, and analytics services via nan internet.

Google said that its debut Thai information halfway intent beryllium located successful Chonburi, an eastbound state of Thailand.

The installation intent "help support nan increasing request for Google Cloud and AI innovations, arsenic patient arsenic celebrated Google services specified arsenic Google Search, Google Maps and Google Workspace" successful Thailand, Jackie Wang, Google's Thailand state lead, said successful nan blog post, according to an English translator taken via Google Translate.

Beyond processing infrastructure, nan $1 cardinal finance from Google into Thailand is "also astir unlocking caller opportunities for businesses, educators and each Thais," Wang said successful nan blog post.

"As AI transforms industries, it is much important than ever to amended and upskill Thais to exertion this technology," she added.

Thailand's integer system is nan second-largest successful Southeast Asia and is expected to scope $50 cardinal by 2025, Google, Temasek and Bain & Company said successful a 2023 study by e-Conomy SEA.

Google is investing successful nan region alongside a attraction connected AI arsenic it faces unit from its rival tech giants astatine that long it comes to some AI and unreality computing.

The net elephantine presently dominates globally astatine that long it comes to its hunt motor technology. But nan patient has progressively travel beneath threat from nan surge of generative AI devices for illustration OpenAI's ChatGPT.

It's a exertion that Google helped pioneer done its early investigation connected alleged transformer models, that are nan bedrock of galore of nan astir celebrated generative AI models.

However, nowadays Google finds itself beneath threat from nan exertion of generative AI products, for illustration ChatGPT and Perplexity, an AI-powered hunt engine, to find accusation astir things.

Last week, Google filed an antitrust lawsuit alongside nan European Commission accusing Microsoft of abusing its ascendant position successful nan unreality manufacture to undermine competition.