Thai billionaire pours $271M into data center expansion amid rising AI adoption

By Dat Nguyen June 28, 2024 | 05:32 pm PT

Sarath Ratanavadi, CEO of Gulf Energy Development. Photo courtesy of the company

Thailand’s second- richest man Sarath Ratanavadi plans to expand his company investment in data centers to serve growing demand for artificial intelligence services.

His energy company Gulf Energy Development Pcl and its partners plans to double the capacity of a data center facility in Bangkok with a THB10 billion investment ($271 million), the company CFO Yupapin Wangviwat told reporters Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

"We set the expansion of the second phase now because we expect a surge in demand for our data center services," Sarath said at the press conference in Bangkok.

"A jump in AI adoption and cloud computing will substantially increase demand for our data center bandwidth."

The company has also signed a deal with Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc to run cloud operations in Thailand.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that Sarath has a net worth of $9.1 billion, second highest in Thailand behind property tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.