DES minister says building trust key to creating AI hub

DES minister says building trust key to creating AI hub Small Medium Large Business General DES minister says building trust key to creating AI hub PUBLISHED : 24 Jul 2026 at 05:36 NEWSPAPER SECTION: Business WRITER: Suchit Leesa-nguansuk Small Medium Large Mr Zheng says Thailand is well-positioned to become a regional AI hub. Thailand is betting on trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) to become an AI hub in Southeast Asia by placing governance, infrastructure and talent at the heart of its national strategy.The country seeks to differentiate itself in the region's intensifying AI race where trust and not computing power is emerging as a key competitive advantage.

"AI's true value lies not in technological sophistication, but in the benefits it delivers to people and the trust it earns," Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Chaichanok Chidchob said in a video address to the Huawei Thailand Digital & AI Summit 2026 event on Thursday. He outlined Thailand's AI strategy around three pillars -- infrastructure, trust and people -- as the country seeks to build a sustainable AI structure. Operational data centre capacity in Thailand has reached about 350 megawatts, with a long-term pipeline exceeding 2.

8 gigawatts. Nearly 40 data centre and cloud projects approved by the Board of Investment are strengthening connectivity, resilience and investor confidence, said Mr Chaichanok. The government is also advancing AI governance, cyber-resilience, Thai-language AI and workforce development while encouraging global technology companies to build AI capabilities locally.

Chinese gain momentum Austin Zheng, deputy managing director of Huawei Thailand, said generative AI has rapidly shifted from experimentation to commercial deployment, with nearly 40% of enterprises already using AI to improve productivity and develop new products. As adoption accelerates, safety, privacy and controllable AI will become essential for sustainable growth, he said. China has emerged as a major force in global AI, with Chinese open-source models accounting for 46% of global token usage, while costing roughly 20 times less to operate than comparable US models.

Mr Zheng said Thailand is well-positioned to become a regional AI hub, supported by favourable government policies, nationwide 5G population coverage of 95% and almost 1GW of new data centre capacity under development, making the country a gateway to Southeast Asia. However, businesses continue to face high computing costs, fragmented and poor-quality data, AI models that are not tailored to local industries, and a shortage of AI talent capable of aligning technology with business strategy. To strengthen Thailand's AI system, he said companies should prioritise high-value business use cases, build AI models using local industry data and develop professionals with expertise in both AI and business operations.

Huawei plans to provide full-stack AI infrastructure while training 40,000 AI developers in Thailand over the coming years to help build an open, secure and inclusive AI system. Trustworthy AI Patchara Anuntasilpa, DES permanent secretary, said Thailand's next phase of digital transformation will focus on trustworthy AI, where innovation must be built on security, responsibility and public confidence. The digital economy is projected to expand 4.

2% to more than 5.6 trillion baht in 2026, accounting for 29% of an estimated GDP of 19.3 trillion baht.

Thailand ranked second among Asean nations in the 2025 Government AI Readiness Index by Oxford Insights, reflecting steady progress in AI preparedness. Despite these gains, AI adoption across businesses and in everyday life remains below its potential, making stronger AI governance a national priority, he said. The government is consolidating public sector cloud resources into a national cloud platform, reducing operating costs by nearly 30%.

The administration is also promoting investment in a National Data Center and sovereign AI capabilities, including the development of a Thai large language model (Thai LLM), to strengthen Thailand's ambition of becoming a regional digital and AI hub. Mr Zheng said AI adoption is entering a new phase, shifting from pilot projects to large-scale industrial deployment. As AI applications, intelligent agents and digital services become mainstream, enterprises will require stronger foundations, including intelligent computing, trusted data, secure AI governance and AI-ready talent.

"The greatest risk in the AI era is not making the wrong move -- it is making no move at all," he said. At the summit, Huawei launched an initiative to bring together government agencies, universities, research institutions, startups and technology companies to accelerate AI innovation and talent development. The company also reaffirmed its ambition to cultivate 100,000 AI professionals to support Thailand's goal of becoming an AI talent hub.

Huawei showcased its Atlas 950 SuperPoD AI computing platform and launched a T