Thailand’s suspension of dozens of data center projects last week signals that the backlash against the AI boom—long simmering in the U.S.—is gaining ground in Asia. On Sept. 4, Thai authorities suspended construction of 49 data centers as regulators draft new rules on resource use and safety.
The AI boom had persuaded many Asian governments to aggressively court data centers by offering tax breaks, discounts on land and easy access to power and water. Big tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon have pledged billions of dollars for new data centers and AI infrastructure across Asia.
Although companies are clamoring for capacity, “there are physical limits to how quickly you can build data centers at scale,” Kevin Guan, chief investment officer and executive vice president of Bain Capital-backed Bridge Data Centres said at the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sept. 8. “We’re seeing significant delays and challenges” with delivery, he added.
“There’s a lot of pushback at the moment in many parts of the world. I think we’re all having to respond, and it’s only right that we do so,” said John Taylor, global critical facilities leader and principal at the architecture firm Gensler. “We need to move data centers from being perceived as industrial infrastructure to being something which is part of the civic infrastructure, which serves a community.”
