Govt issues regulations to control Data Center resource use

Thansettakij•Economy•20d ago

Reader Briefing

The Thai government is drafting Prime Minister's Office regulations to regulate data center operations and manage national resource usage.

•The government is drafting regulations to control the impact of data centers on national resources, specifically electricity and water.
•A new legally empowered committee will be established to approve, permit, and monitor data center operations.
•The government plans to implement zoning to discourage data center construction in the EEC and promote areas like Mae Moh in Lampang province.

Overview

•The Government is drafting Prime Minister's Office regulations to oversee data center operations and their impact on national resources.
•A new committee with legal authority will be established after the regulations are issued to manage approvals and monitoring of data centers in Thailand.
•The Government found issues with resource allocation because data center operators prioritize system stability, which requires significant amounts of electricity and water for cooling.
•Current legal gaps mean data centers are not controlled businesses and lack clear permits, leading to fragmented applications across the NBTC and BOI.
•The Government will apply different criteria to three groups of operators: auditing existing ones, adding criteria for those under construction, and enforcing full criteria for future applicants.
•In the EEC area, the Government intends to balance water allocation between the industrial sector, agricultural sector, and households.
•The Government is considering zoning to shift data center locations from the EEC to areas with high infrastructure readiness, such as near the Mae Moh mine in Lampang province.
•The Government will invest in digital infrastructure, such as fiber optics, if the Mae Moh area is developed as a data center hub.

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Source: Thansettakij (Original)

Key Quotes

Source from the Government House

"In the past, requests for data center business permits were not centralized and were not specific permits."

ที่ผ่านมาการขออนุญาตกิจการดาต้าเซ็นเตอร์ไม่ได้รวมอยู่ที่จุดเดียวและไม่ใช่กิจการที่ขออนุญาตเฉพาะ

Key Entities

Organization

Government(รัฐบาล)ℹ️

The governing body drafting regulations to control data center operations and resource usage.

Prime Minister's Office(สำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี)

The office under which the data center regulatory draft is being prepared.

Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)(สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกิจการกระจายเสียง กิจการโทรทัศน์และกิจการโทรคมนาคมแห่งชาติ (กสทช.))

One of the agencies where data center operators have previously sought permits.

Board of Investment (BOI)(คณะกรรมการส่งเสริมการลงทุน (บีโอไอ))

An agency providing investment promotion for data center projects.

Place

EEC(อีอีซี)ℹ️

An area where the government wants to reduce data center construction to balance water usage.

Mae Moh Mine, Lampang Province(เหมืองแม่เมาะ จ.ลำปาง)

A proposed area for data center zoning due to high infrastructure readiness and water availability.

Law

Prime Minister's Office Regulations(ระเบียบสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี)

The regulatory framework being drafted to oversee data center operations.