Thailand-based warehouse and factory developer WHA Corporation is forming a joint venture with NTT Facilities to build a data center in Thailand, according to a report on DealStreetAsia.

WHA will have a majority stake in the joint venture, and describes the joint venture as part of a bid to turn Thailand into a regional digital hub. 

wha office
WHA office, Samutpraken province – WHA

Logistics expert

WHA is one of the country’s leaders in logistics and warehouses, and wants Korea to be a regional hub for logistics, manufacturing, utilities and digital services. On its part, NTT Facilities is a fully owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) in Japan. It specializes in developing data centers, and also operates scores of such facilities in the Asia Pacific region, including in Thailand.

In the report, WHA’s chief executive Somyos Anantaprayoon spoke of support from Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula, who apparently offered support in the form of tax incentives through the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), as well as some subsidies for the cost of electricity. According to him, some of the warehouses that WHA owns are ideally located for the establishing of data centers with the expertise of NTT Facilities.

“[The] data center will be a significant step for develop the country’s economy,” said Anantaprayoon. “We want to be the first mover as well as boost our competitiveness and create connectivity for all our warehouses, factories and offices for rent.”

Early this year, the data center market in Thailand received a boost with the infusion of 10.15 billion baht (US$30.8M) in two data centers that was approved by the BOI. For now, you can read more about the “Land of Smiles” and its growing data center industry here.