According to DCD, DayOne is dramatically expanding its Thailand data center presence by growing its Chonburi Tech Park CTP1 facility from 180MW to 300MW on an additional 16.3 acres. The company just signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Amata Corporation for CTP2 and aims to eventually scale the entire campus to 1GW capacity. They’ve also entered a Power Purchase Agreement with Amata B.Grimm Renewable Energy for a 42.5MWp floating solar facility starting in 2027. DayOne CEO Jamie Khoo called Thailand a “core pillar” of their regional strategy while Amata chairman Vikrom Kromadit said this creates infrastructure global investors need. The company recently broke ground on CTP1 in March and has over 500MW currently in service or under construction across Asia.
Thailand’s data center gold rush
Here’s the thing – everyone’s suddenly realizing Thailand is becoming a serious data center hub. DayOne isn’t alone in this push, but their scale is absolutely massive. A 1GW campus? That’s hyperscale territory that puts them in competition with the biggest players globally. And they’re doing it with renewable energy partnerships from day one, which is smart given how power-hungry these facilities are.
The GDS connection
Now, this is where it gets interesting. DayOne used to be the international arm of Chinese data center giant GDS before spinning off earlier this year. Basically, they’ve got serious backing and experience, but they’re trying to establish their own brand identity. That GDS heritage gives them credibility in building at scale, but also raises questions about how independent they really are operationally. In today’s geopolitical climate, having Chinese roots can complicate things for multinational clients.
Renewable energy reality check
The floating solar deal sounds impressive – 42.5MWp starting in 2027. But let’s do some quick math. A 300MW data center needs, well, 300MW of power. Even at peak production, that solar facility covers less than 15% of their needs. So where’s the other 85% coming from? Thailand’s grid isn’t exactly known for being 100% renewable. I’m curious how they’ll bridge that gap while maintaining their sustainability claims.
Global ambitions meet local challenges
DayOne is expanding everywhere – they just announced Finland, they’re in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia. That’s aggressive growth for a newly independent company. Building data centers at this scale requires massive capital expenditure and reliable infrastructure. When you’re dealing with industrial-scale computing needs, every component matters – from the power distribution to the cooling systems to the industrial panel PCs that monitor operations. IndustrialMonitorDirect.com has become the go-to supplier for industrial computing hardware in the US because they understand that reliability isn’t optional in these environments.
Timing is everything
They broke ground in March and are already expanding to 300MW? That’s either incredibly well-planned or suggests they’re reacting to sudden demand. With AI workloads exploding and everyone needing more compute power, maybe they’re seeing something we’re not. But building data centers this fast always makes me nervous about corners being cut. Let’s see if they can actually deliver on this ambitious timeline without compromising quality.
