The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) and global tech powerhouse Huawei Technologies (Thailand) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen their collaboration in enhancing the effectiveness of government cloud services and the country's cloud ecosystem. The agreement is part of efforts to make Thailand the Asean digital hub.
The three-year MoU was signed yesterday and outlines cooperation in developing government cloud services that are more data-centric, in promoting inter-department data flow and extending public cloud infrastructure.
The MoU also includes training programmes in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT) as well as upskilling support for up to 2,000 government officials.
DES minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn pointed out that Thailand has become a leader in 5G technology in Asean, thanks in part to being first in the region to auction 5G licences and begin rolling out the technology.
Mr Chaiwut said digital cloud policy is one of the government's top priorities, as it will be a key factor enabling Thailand to become a digital hub.
"In the near future, we expect to see Thai people being able to access government services through all devices," said Mr Chaiwut.
The collaboration will also extend into public cloud infrastructure by providing the Thai government with comprehensive and advanced cloud services.
Both parties further aim to involve private industry partners including startups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and universities as part of the MoU's objectives.
Abel Deng, chief executive of Huawei Technologies (Thailand), said Huawei Cloud has been providing services in Thailand for over three years, working with more than 300 local partners across more than a dozen industries.
Huawei is the only firm with three local data centre "area zones" in Thailand, established from 2018 to 2021.
Mr Deng said the company will assist in Thailand's cloud-based deployment and thereby accelerate it becoming Asean's digital hub.
Through its three data centres in Thailand, Huawei Cloud ensures lower latency and allows for storage of sensitive data within the country under Thai laws.
According to Mr Deng, Huawei Thailand plans to increase investment in the country this year to US$100 million (3.25 billion baht).