The imposition of martial law will create a potential windfall for data centre and cloud-based services as companies are storing increasing amounts of data to maintain business continuity.
As technology use becomes more widespread, data centres should see an unprecedented proliferation this year because they are mission critical facilities for companies, especially large enterprises, said two global leading technology research firms.
However, Thailand's information and communication technology (ICT) industry as a whole is expected to grow only 5.5% to US$25.3 billion this year, down from an earlier projection of 7.2%.
Global research firm IDC said the local ICT market has been hit by the ongoing political woes, especially since the government's IT investment projects have been delayed due to the dissolution of parliament.
Head of operations for IDC Thailand Michael Araneta said it predicted the country's political impasse will result in a 20% contraction of the PC market and a 27% drop in the tablet market this year.
Sales of mobile phones are expected to fall 4% this year.
Teera Kanokkanjanarat, senior ICT industry analyst for Frost & Sullivan, agreed data centre operators in Thailand have seen a sharp increase in demand for disaster recovery (DR) site and business continuity plan (BCP) services.
A survey conducted by Frost and Sullivan showed demand for DR sites and BCP in the fourth quarter of 2013 were the key drivers in 20% growth of the data centre market last year.
Mr Teera said martial law is also causing enterprises to re-evaluate their current IT strategies and consider investing more in cloud-based IT infrastructure to ensure business continuity.
He added the amount of data consumption on social networks and online platforms will see a sharp increase as social media has become a key communication channel, especially during emergency situations. Social media traffic surged by 30% during last year's political turmoil, said Mr Teera.
Kosit Suksingha, executive director of TCC Technology, a local data centre operator under TCC Group, said it altered its IT computing resources and network bandwidth to accommodate an anticipated increase in demand, especially from foreign companies.
Foreign firms are concerned about martial law and want to use data centres to store their information in a safe and secure place to ensure business continuity.
"We can double our service capacity from the current levels," he said.