The Thai government is expected to finalize a new set of data center regulations by mid-October.

According to reporting from Nation Thailand, the data center regulatory framework will set rules on facility size, electricity use, and location, according to Danucha Pichayanan, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC).

Pichayanan said that government agencies have submitted data to inform the framework, including details on existing operators, size-based classification criteria, and average electricity and water consumption.

As part of the new regulations, the country’s Energy Ministry will set limits on data center electricity use under a dedicated electricity tariff for data center businesses, which is already in place.

In addition, the rules are expected to classify data centers with power use of 100MW or more as hyperscale facilities, though the final threshold is still subject to the policy committee's review.

In addition, data centers that meet the criteria for classification as industrial operations would be required to locate in designated industrial estates, to avoid adverse effects on residential areas.

Construction of new data centers was suspended last month to allow time to draft the new regulations, putting approximately 49 data centers on hold. In addition to suspending the 49 projects, Thai officials also froze approvals for 117 planned facilities. Thai officials have not disclosed which facilities have had their development paused.

The Southeast Asian country has seen a huge influx of data center investment over recent years, with several developers seeking to cash in on the AI boom. In the first half of 2026 alone, Thailand's Board of Investment approved 88 artificial intelligence and data center projects, worth approximately 886 billion baht (about $27 billion).

Thailand is already home to several of the largest hyperscalers. Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched a cloud region there in January 2025. Google followed this, launching its own cloud region in Bangkok in January.

Microsoft is currently developing a region in the country, and in October 2025 revealed it would use True IDC for one of its availability zones. Alibaba Cloud also has two data centers in the country.