Nvidia mulls investment in Thailand, amid tech giants eyeing new growth markets – report

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is set to unveil investment plans for Thailand, Bloomberg News reported, citing the Asian country’s Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan.

The move could see the U.S. tech giant joining other tech heavyweights, including Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT), in setting up AI data centers in South East Asia, as companies look to new growth markets with potential places to expand operations amid rising geopolitical tensions.

Nvidia will announce investments during CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to Bangkok in December, Pichai said on Monday, according to the report.

The company’s investment could lead to more funding “with related clusters following suit,” Pichai told the news agency in an interview.

Details of the potential investment were not disclosed.

Interest from Nvidia, other tech companies, and those in the supply chain should take investment applications back to the levels seen before a 2014 coup and help Thailand regain “lost opportunities” in that decade, Pichai noted.

Thailand lags behind Malaysia and Singapore and intends to bolster its economy.

The country plans to conclude free trade pacts with the EU and the United Arab Emirates next year, according to Pichai.

Earlier this year, Microsoft pledged to build new cloud and AI infrastructure in Thailand, and provide opportunities to train over 100,000 people in AI skills. Earlier this year, Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella was on a three-country tour of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.