Google Cloud expands presence in Asia Pacific region

The joint venture is part of a 49:51 agreement with ST Telemedia a minority stakeholder, with 49% while Ticon holds 51%. The new facility sits on a 807,293 sq ft plot of land in Ramkhamhaeng district, situated in central Bangkok.

Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, Chairman of the Executive Committee of TICON said: “We believe in the market potential of expanding our focus into developing Thailand’s digital economy and transforming urban living with Smart Cities.

“Developing digital infrastructure in the form of state-of-the-art data centres is one of the key investment areas we are embarking on in this new economy.

“We are delighted to partner with a reputed global player like STT GDC in this joint venture, and believe the combined strengths of both companies will allow us to best serve the digital growth plans of our customers.”

In line with the Thailand 4.0 initiative to develop the digital economy in the country, as well as the Thai government’s National Digital Economy Masterplan, the digital economy is expected to see robust growth and contribute up to 25% of Thailand’s GDP by 2027.

At the same time, public cloud spending in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan is expected to grow exponentially at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.58%, from 2016 to 2021.

“We have been serving Thailand’s industrial needs with our international standard quality of industrial properties for more than 28 years,” said Sopon Racharaksa, President of TICON.

“This joint venture partnership will broaden TICON’s digital and technology service on top of our existing offering as the leading developer of integrated industrial properties.

“We are confident that our long term experience in industrial property development, together with STT GDC’s world-class expertise in data centre development will create synergies and realise the immense potential for growth in the data centre business in Thailand.”

Last week ST Telemedia announced plans to invest $350m and begin construction at STT Loyang, their largest data centre facility in Singapore to date, next year.

Mr. Bruno Lopez, Group Chief Executive Officer of STT GDC said: “This development marks STT GDC’s first foray into the Thai data centre market, and will strengthen our expanding network across major data centre markets around the world.

“With our ‘think global, act local’ mantra, we believe that TICON, with their rich legacy and successful operating history in the country, will be valuable partners in our new venture.

“We are confident that with our expertise in designing, building and operating data centres to the highest global standards in key markets such as Singapore, China, India and the UK, as well as the local expertise of TICON in understanding the needs of the Thai market and navigating its regulatory environment, we will be able to meet the demands of our customers in Thailand, support their digital growth and help them realise the Thailand 4.0 vision.”

The data centre project has begun on its development phase, and is expected to commence in mid-year of 2019. The facility due for completion and service commencement by 2020.