THAILAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Shunsuke Minowa, Yosuke Konno, Poonyisa Sornchangwat and Natthapa Jirathawong, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Legal framework for data centre businesses in Thailand BOI investment promotion The BOI plays a key role in promoting investment by both Thai investors and foreign investors (through a locally incorporated company) in Thailand in various target sectors, including data centre businesses in particular. The BOI’s investment promotion will be granted to eli - gible businesses only if the applicant meets the spe - cific conditions and criteria set forth for the relevant business category. Eligible businesses, including data centre businesses, may receive tax and/or non-tax incentives depending on the business category. Recent regulatory updates on BOI regulations In 2025 and early 2026, the BOI revised the conditions for investment promotion and the utilisation of incen - tives for data centre businesses in order to support efficient resource utilisation and to provide guidance for the preparation of project plans that generate ben - efits for Thailand. For investment promotion applications, the key amendments related to data centre businesses can be summarised as follows. • Data centre businesses that are eligible for invest - ment promotion were revised and classified into two subcategories (ie, (i) high-efficiency data cen - tres and (ii) other types of data centres). • The key conditions and tax incentives that were revised are as follows. (a) Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) requirement: this condition was added for high-efficiency data centres, requiring that a PUE of no more than 1.3 be maintained. (b) Plan for generating benefits for Thailand: this condition was added and requires that, upon applying for investment promotion, a plan for generating benefits for Thailand must be sub - mitted, focusing on training programme en - gagement, curriculum development, research and development, and skills development for Thai SMEs, etc. Subsequently, projects must implement the submitted plans and present evidence of such implementation prior to utilis -
structures on or beneath land owned by another. Superficies rights are transferable and inheritable. • Usufructs: under Section 1417 of the CCC, a landowner can grant a person (the usufructuary) the right to possess, use, benefit from and man - age real property owned by another. Usufructs are not transferable or inheritable. Usufructs restrict the right of the property owner more strictly than a leasehold as they include the usufructuary’s right to possess, use and enjoy the benefits of the prop - erty. However, the use of these rights remains uncommon among business operators compared to leaseholds due to certain legal and practical constraints. In par - ticular, similar to leaseholds, these rights are subject to the 30-year term limitation, which means they are not significantly different from leaseholds. Thus, inves - tors do not have a strong incentive to seek superficies or usufructs over leaseholds. In addition, particularly for usufructs that grant generous rights to the usufruc - tuary and severely limit the owner’s abilities over the property, this may cause the owner to be reluctant to grant usufructs. Data Centre Businesses: An Emerging Industry with Significant Impacts on the Real Estate Sector Overview of data centre businesses in Thailand Thailand has emerged as a strategic destination for data centre businesses since Thailand is well- equipped with, among other things, essential infra - structure that is vital for global communication. There are several data centres located in Bangkok and surrounding provinces in Thailand as well as the Eastern Economic Corridor or EEC (an area-based development project aimed at boosting Thailand’s economy through the development of infrastructure and industrial zones, particularly in Chonburi, Rayong and Chachoengsao provinces). Against this backdrop, the Thai government has actively enhanced its investment promotion frame - work through the Board of Investment (BOI) to accom - modate the rapid growth in investment in data centre businesses in Thailand.
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