The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving new demand for AI-powered computer notebooks and servers by both consumers and enterprises, according to IT companies.
Demand remains unabated even with a weak economy, as consumers and businesses want to increase productivity and explore new innovative use cases, said the firms.
Thailand should leverage geopolitical advantages in the US-China tech war to attract investment in PC assembly plants, AI-based cloud data centres and AI chip manufacturing, said the companies.
PC maker HP Inc opened a new sub-contract PC notebook factory in the Thailand's eastern region to ensure supply chain resilience.
The country is solidifying its position as a regional leader in AI-ready data centres, attracting nearly 100 billion baht in investments, according to the Board of Investment (BoI). The BoI has approved 37 projects for data centre construction and cloud services totalling 98.6 billion baht.
The board said for the first phase of project development, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has invested more than 25 billion baht to build three data centres. In May this year, AWS said it is ready to launch its new data centre region in Thailand by early next year as part of a commitment announced in 2022 to invest more than 200 billion baht in Thailand over the next 15 years.
The BoI also approved Australia's NextDC investing 13.7 billion baht, Singapore's STT GDC (4.5 billion), Evolution Data Centre (4 billion), USA's Supernap (Switch) (3 billion), Japan's Telehouse (2.7 billion), and Hong Kong's One Asia (2 billion).
Google and Microsoft also announced plans to establish data centres in Thailand, and are working on details with the board, said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary-general of the BoI.
Somchai Sittichaisrichart, managing director of SIS Distribution, said the opening of HP's notebook factory in Thailand reflects a geographic advantage. The plant is a major investment by HP in Thailand, he said.
Mr Somchai said US tech firms with factories in China may need to relocate to other countries to avoid import taxes when re-importing goods back to the US. As a consequence, their factories in China might primarily focus on serving the domestic Chinese market, he said.
Mr Somchai said Thailand is a strategic PC market in Southeast Asia. Policymakers should offer more intensive packages to attract more upstream technology investment, particularly AI chip facilities, he said.
Mr Somchai said AI drives IT consumption in every segment following the pandemic, while the conventional PC market started its decline before the pandemic, which caused a surge, but is again slumping.
"The average price of an AI PC in the market is 40,000 baht. This is not high if you consider that it can help increase productivity," he said.
Mr Somchai expects in early 2025, more AI-based PCs will be available in the market.
The enterprise sector is eager to try AI capabilities, which is driving demand for graphics processing unit servers to process AI workload, he said.
Pornthep Watcharaamnouy, managing director of IT product distributor Ingram Micro (Thailand), said Thailand needs to prepare more renewable energy and support liquid cooling systems to attract AI-ready data centre investment.
Mr Pornthep said for the consumer market, AI PCs with Microsoft's Copilot feature is the catalyst driving the product refreshment cycle. Following the pandemic, the PC replacement cycle is occurring, he said.
"AI PCs are the only way for PC makers to survive by generating demand for replacements in this economy," said Pornchai Jantarasupasang, deputy general manager of Arip, organiser of "Commart Megatech" IT fair. The event runs from July 11-14 at Bitec Bang Na.
At least 20 computer models at the fair support the use of AI, he said. AI PCs are priced about 10% higher than existing models, making them attractive, said Mr Pornchai. Commart offered a discount promotion at the event to stimulate sales.
The company spent more than 1 million baht on marketing, giving away digital coupons each worth 10,000 baht in a daily lucky draw during the four-day event. It expects sales of 3 billion baht at the fair, similar to an event earlier this year, he said.
Somyos Chaovalit, founder of J.I.B. Computer Group, said in the first half this year demand shrank for IT products by 4% year-on-year, but should rebound in the fourth quarter.