TikTok Selected Thailand for New Data Center Hub
The company bypassed Indonesia for the $25 billion project due to a local shortage of skilled digital workers.
Updated on Oct. 9, 2026 in Data Centers
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In May 2026, TikTok officially selected Thailand as the site for a $25 billion data center project, encompassing infrastructure in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. This decision occurred despite TikTok having 160 million monthly users in Indonesia compared to 50 million in Thailand.
Why it matters
The investment shift highlights how physical infrastructure requirements for data centers depend heavily on local human capital. Indonesia currently faces a projected shortfall of 3 million digital workers, a gap that threatens to obstruct large-scale technology operations.
The $25 billion project represents a significant capital allocation based on labor availability versus user base. Indonesia faces an estimated 3 million worker shortfall against a 12 million worker need by 2030, while the company maintains 160 million users in that market.
The players
TikTok
A global short-form video platform and subsidiary of ByteDance that relies on massive data infrastructure to serve over 160 million monthly users in Indonesia alone.
Thailand Board of Investment
The Thai government agency responsible for approving foreign direct investment and evaluating large-scale infrastructure projects like the new data center.
Nurul Ichwan
An official who addressed the shortfall of digital talent during the Investor Daily Summit 2026.
The details
TikTok chose Thailand because the region offers a more established pipeline of digital workers to manage complex data center operations. These facilities require specialized expertise in network architecture, server maintenance, and high-load cooling systems. While Indonesia is currently working to address its talent deficit, the company prioritized immediate operational readiness for this $25 billion expansion.
Timeline
May 2026: Thailand approved the $25 billion TikTok project.
October 8, 2026: Nurul Ichwan spoke at the Investor Daily Summit 2026 regarding the project.
2030: The target year for Indonesia’s requirement of 12 million digital workers.
The Tech Race
This decision illustrates the decoupling of consumer reach from infrastructure investment. Despite the Indonesian Communications and Digital Ministry's talent development initiative aiming for 600,000 workers annually, the existing skills gap still forced the company to choose an alternative market.
Users in Indonesia will not see a change in service speed, as TikTok continues to rely on its existing infrastructure strategy to serve its 160 million local users. The expansion into Bangkok serves as a new regional backbone that will eventually support higher traffic volumes across Southeast Asia.
The takeaway
The project serves as a reminder that data center location is dictated as much by the availability of local, specialized labor as it is by user density. Watch for future reports from the Indonesian government in 2030 to see if current training initiatives bridge the 3 million-person worker gap.
Further reading
For more on how facility placement is evolving, visit our Data Centers coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Jakarta Globe.
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