Veerayut urges the Data Center Board to resolve four major issues, emphasizing the need for bold retrospective enforcement, closing legal loopholes, adopting targeted promotion policies, and avoiding support exclusively for estate owners and contractors instead of broader stakeholders.
On 2 Sep 2026 GMT+7, Veerayut Kanchuchat, party-list MP and Deputy Leader of the People’s Party, called on the Data Center Policy Board, which will hold its inaugural meeting on Friday, 4 Sep 2026 GMT+7, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Akniti Nitithanprapas, to consider and swiftly decide on four key issues to address societal concerns about the value and impact of rapidly expanding data center projects.
First, Veerayut stated that the Data Center Board must boldly enforce regulations retrospectively on 57 projects already approved by the Board of Investment (BOI), totaling over 811 billion baht, because previously involved agencies declared no retrospective controls would be applied regarding water and electricity management, environmental impact assessments, and conditions for using domestic raw materials and components (Local Content). Without retrospective enforcement, these large projects cannot be uniformly regulated under the same standards.
Second, legal loopholes must be closed. Currently, data center businesses exist in a regulatory vacuum, not classified as activities requiring Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports or industrial factory permits, leading many companies to apply for construction permits as warehouse buildings instead. Additionally, a new issue arose with TikTok's hundred-billion-baht investment, which is excluded from BOI investment data, justified as "Data Hosting"—a data storage rental service rather than a data center infrastructure. The Board must therefore close these loopholes to prevent regulatory avoidance.
Third, Local Content requirements must deliver real benefits beyond favoring only landowners and contractors. Although the Deputy Prime Minister supports using domestic raw materials as a criterion for project approval, the key goal should be integrating Thailand’s economy into advanced technology supply chains. Veerayut proposes the government prioritize types of data centers that facilitate AI machine learning rather than merely general cloud data storage centers.
Fourth, the government must lead direction and strengthen its negotiating power. Veerayut noted that the government’s recent stance reflects a lack of leverage with investors, despite a sharp rise in investment promotion applications since the latter half of 2025, driven by stricter regulations in other ASEAN countries. Thailand should use its bargaining power to define data center types that connect with Thai operators, enforce clean energy standards, and prevent long-term impacts on public utilities and communities.