The government plans to offer enhanced tax incentives for startup companies and global technology firms that establish a presence in Thailand's first digital innovation park.
Pichet: Seeks to attract more FDI
The incentives package includes an eight-year corporate income tax exemption and an additional five-year 50% reduction after the exemption period expires, plus an exemption from import duties on machinery and equipment, and a five-year personal income tax holiday for researchers who work at the park, said Digital Economy and Society Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj.
"The offering is aimed at attracting more foreign investment in data centres, R&D facilities and new digital businesses in the country, with the goal of promoting Thailand as a digital infrastructure hub in Asean," Mr Pichet said.
Located in Chon Buri with an area of more than 500 rai, the 10-billion-baht digital innovation park is under construction and expected to open in early 2018.
CAT Telecom and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) are in charge of the project's development, having signed a memorandum of understanding last year.
The state telecom enterprise will mainly invest in the park and provide digital infrastructure such as fibre-optic networks, cloud computing, data centres and internet gateway services. The IEAT will provide one-stop information services for investment incentives.
He said the tax incentives proposal, an important part of the conceptual design project, will be submitted by March to the Eastern Economic Corridor Committee chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. The project promotes Thailand as a digital technology and innovation hub connecting local players to the global economy, said Mr Pichet.
The park has high investment potential as it located in the Eastern Economic Corridor, with a deep-sea port, airports, railways, expressways and CAT's submarine cable landing station providing connections, he said.
The government initially set three main areas for the project: a digital innovation centre, innovation research centre and residence facility centre.
The digital innovation centre will be open to both local and foreign investment to develop hardware and software.
The innovation research centre will also allow local and foreign innovative developers to invest in development of intelligent closed-circuit television, the Internet of things, cloud computing, and new sensor systems.
The residence facility centre will provide housing for workers at the park.
CAT president Sanpachai Huvanandana said his company and the IEAT plan to begin a roadshow abroad in July that will promote the park among global technology firms.
The park corresponds with the government's economic development policy focusing on S-Curve industries, including robotics, aviation and logistics, digital business, biofuels and biochemicals.