BANGKOK -- Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group aims to inject fresh growth into its telecommunications arm with data centers and a partnership with Intel to sell AI services in the medical and other fields.
Last month, the group marked the completion of a 20-megawatt "hyperscale" data center with massive processing power near Bangkok. CP says it is the first facility in the country to specialize in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
"This development brings immense benefits to Thailand and its industries," CP Group CEO Suphachai Chearavanont said at the event.
CP plans to invest more than 10 billion baht ($305 million) in data center development over the three years through 2027. The new data center is part of that buildup and is expected to be used in growth areas such as medicine and agriculture.
While it accelerates data center development, CP is also expanding the use of AI through subsidiary True, Thailand's largest telecommunications company. In September, it announced a partnership with U.S. chipmaker Intel to sell corporate services combining Intel's Edge AI, which runs on local devices, and 5G high-speed communication networks.
In particular, CP has its eyes on the medical field, where AI can improve the speed and accuracy of difficult diagnoses and aid remote patient rehabilitation.
Driving CP's push into AI is concern about True's growth outlook.
True merged with Total Access Communication (DTAC), a company under Norwegian telecom Telenor, in March 2023, becoming Thailand's industry leader.
Efficiency and financial improvements helped it post a consolidated net profit of 1.6 billion baht for January-March 2025, returning to the black for the first time since the merger.
But growth in the mobile phone business, which accounts for roughly 80% of sales, has plateaued. True's mobile subscribers as of the end of March numbered about 49 million, down roughly 600,000 from the end of December.
CP is trying to break out of this trap with new leadership at the telecom unit. In March, Sigve Brekke, former CEO of Telenor, was name as True's group CEO. Brekke has also served as CEO of DTAC in Thailand and is said to have extensive knowledge of Asian markets.
At a news conference in May, Brekke said True had come a long way to become profitable, but more work needed to be done to improve the quality of services and pull away from competitors.
Thai rival Advanced Info Service is also starting to shift from mobile phones to AI. It recently partnered with U.S. tech company Oracle to provide more than 100 AI and other cloud services to companies.
It will invest 8 billion baht by 2030 and work with Oracle in developing new services, setting the stage for intensifying competition between CP and True.
Thailand's declining population will be a headwind. In 2060, the country's population is expected to be more than than 10% lower than in 2024 at about 62 million, according to the United Nations. Nearby Indonesia and Malaysia are expected to see population growth of about 10% to 20% over the same span. Another challenge for CP Group will be finding ways to link its retail and financial businesses to the telecom arm to make the most of a shrinking domestic market.
