Thailand paused construction on 49 data centre projects in September 2026 as scrutiny of the sector increased. It also suspended approval decisions on 117 more projects amid concerns about regulation and monitoring.
Thailand’s data centre expansion has hit a regulatory brake, according to The Guardian. Alongside the construction and approval pauses, the country announced an approval framework covering energy and water use, power guarantees and higher electricity tariffs for operators.
Rising AI use has helped drive demand for data centres across south-east Asia. The region accounts for about 50% of Asia Pacific’s data centre capacity under construction, according to a 2026 Cushman and Wakefield report, following years of restricted expansion in Singapore.
Malaysia has also established a taskforce to review new projects for energy and water security. For companies building AI services, these restrictions make a distinction important: planned regional capacity is not yet available computing infrastructure, and approval conditions can affect when it arrives.
The construction pause shows that regulatory constraints can interrupt data centre expansion after projects have entered development.
AI companies planning regional capacity need to distinguish proposed facilities from infrastructure they can actually use.
Energy and water requirements are becoming part of infrastructure approval decisions, making resource planning a business constraint.
Written automatically by the Made in 10 Newsroom from the source above.
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