The NESDC Secretary-General expects to finalize the data center business control criteria with enforcement starting by mid-October. Consideration is being given to mechanisms to prevent regulatory fragmentation, while the agency that will act as the main overseer is yet to be decided.
On 20 Sep 2026, Mr. Danucha Pichayanan, Secretary-General of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), serving as secretary and member of the Data Center Business Policy Committee, revealed progress on presenting detailed data to support the consideration of regulatory criteria for the data center business. Various agencies have submitted data, such as current service providers, classification criteria by data center size, and average electricity and water usage.
Regarding electricity criteria, the Ministry of Energy will determine control measures for usage levels. The electricity tariff already exists and will be applied specifically to the data center business sector.
Additionally, regulations will be established to control the size of each data center type. If classified as industrial scale, the data center must be located within designated industrial estates to avoid affecting households. It is currently considered that hyper-scale data centers consuming 100 megawatts or more should be subject to these requirements. Precise thresholds will be finalized by the board's decision.
The NESDC Secretary-General stated that the timeline anticipates finalizing details within one month (the first meeting was on 4 Sep). Once detailed data and requirements for data centers are complete, the process will move to drafting specific policies for data centers. The mechanism to prevent regulatory fragmentation will be reviewed, and the agency to serve as the main overseer will be decided later.
"It is expected that the data center business control regulations will be enforceable by no later than mid-October. Everything must be in order as multiple parties are awaiting clarity on this matter," Mr. Danucha said.