BANGKOK, May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Thailand has once again gained strong confidence from leading global investors, as a high-level delegation from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)—a major infrastructure investment group under BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers—paid an official visit to Thailand. The delegation was led by Mr. Adebayo Ogunlesi, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of GIP, and Senior Managing Director at BlackRock. During the visit, Mr. Ogunlesi met with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to discuss investment opportunities and collaboration in Thailand’s digital infrastructure. Joining the discussion were Mr. Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), and executives from True IDC, who shared their vision and reaffirmed the Thai private sector’s readiness to elevate the country as a regional hub for technology and AI.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra warmly welcomed the delegation and expressed her commitment to facilitating private sector infrastructure investments with greater ease, speed, and transparency. The PM also affirmed the government’s willingness to support collaboration between the private sector and academic institutions to develop knowledge and human capital, ultimately strengthening the foundation for Thailand’s digital economy and data center industry.

Mr. Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of CP Group, stated, “Thailand holds tremendous potential to become the digital and AI hub of ASEAN. We are now entering the Giga Data Center era—facilities designed to support gigawatt-scale energy demands and handle high-intensity workloads, tailored to meet the needs of global technology companies investing in Thailand. CP Group is fully committed to working with international partners such as GIP and the Thai government to elevate the country’s digital infrastructure, promote human capital development, and support research and development initiatives. These efforts can transform Thailand into a center for education and innovation, delivering long-term benefits to future generations.”

Mr. Adebayo Ogunlesi, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of GIP, and Senior Managing Director at BlackRock, remarked, “GIP operates across more than 100 countries and has deep expertise in delivering world-class infrastructure projects, including airports, ports, power systems, renewable energy, and data center networks—core systems that underpin long-term digital economic growth. We believe in Thailand’s strategic importance in Southeast Asia, supported by its advantageous geography, infrastructure, energy resources, and human capital—all of which are conducive to sustainable development. GIP’s investment in Thailand is not merely a business opportunity; it is a strategic partnership aimed at building a stable, secure, and sustainable digital ecosystem and laying a new foundation for the regional digital economy.”

A key highlight of this visit is GIP–BlackRock’s plan to collaborate with local partners on a major digital infrastructure investment in Thailand valued between USD 3–5 billion (approximately THB 105–175 billion), with a primary focus on data centers. This investment will significantly enhance Thailand’s capabilities in supporting advanced technology workloads such as AI, Big Data, and Cloud Services. It is expected to generate substantial employment in the engineering and technology sectors while positioning Thailand as a stronger competitor in the modern global economy.

Regionally, Southeast Asia is emerging as a new growth hub for the data center market, with forecasts predicting market value to reach USD 3.81 billion from 2024 to 2029, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8%, driven by edge computing, AI adoption, and broad cloud usage. Thailand’s data center market alone is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.5%–8.5% over the next three years. This marks a pivotal opportunity for Thailand to become a key technology hub with a central role in ASEAN’s economic ecosystem.

The visit of GIP–BlackRock to Thailand marks the beginning of a significant strategic alliance. It brings together the vision of the government, leading Thai industry players, and global investors to lay the foundation for future innovation—with Thailand leading the way toward a new regional direction in the era of digital economies driven by intelligent infrastructure.

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SOURCE True Internet Data Center Co., LTD. (True IDC)

SINGAPORE, May 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Arcfra is proud to announce that it has been named as a Representative Vendor in the 2025 Gartner® Market Guide for Full-Stack Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software.

According to Gartner, “Hyperconverged infrastructure software continues to increase in popularity. Infrastructure and IT operations leaders can use this research to determine if an HCI solution consisting of server, storage and network infrastructure management capabilities is a good fit for their organization.”

Arcfra is committed to help enterprises effortlessly build robust on-premises cloud and AI infrastructure. The flagship product offering, Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform (AECP), is designed to unify compute, storage, networking, security, and disaster recovery capabilities into a single, modular stack. AECP supports both traditional virtual machine-based workloads and modern containerized applications on Kubernetes, with enhanced support for AI/LLM applications. The platform includes built-in automation, observability, and API integrations to simplify management across hybrid environments.

“We are excited to be recognized by Gartner in the 2025 Market Guide for Full-Stack HCI Software,” said Wenhao Xu, Co-founder and CEO at Arcfra. “We believe this recognition reflects our vision of delivering agile, cost-effective, and future-ready infrastructure to enterprises navigating the post-VMware era.”

“The ongoing evolution of full-stack HCI software has positioned it as a potential path for not just replacing incumbent HCI vendors, but also as a method of changing virtualization providers in the face of disruption in the broader virtualization market,” says Gartner.

A lot of I&O leaders are considering moving away from VMware due to the acquisition by Broadcom. Gartner report, A Guide to Choosing a VMware Alternative in the Wake of Broadcom Acquisition, also identified Arcfra as one of the Sample Vendors  for Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI).

Discover how Arcfra can help simplify your cloud and AI infrastructure at www.arcfra.com .

Disclaimer

Gartner, Market Guide for Full-Stack Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software, April 30 2025.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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SOURCE Arcfra Pte. Ltd.

HONG KONG, May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Huawei Smart Urban Rail Summit, themed “Steaming Ahead with Cloud-Network Convergence and Data & AI Enablement for Smart Urban Rail”, was held in Hong Kong, China.

Thomas Xu, Vice President of Huawei’s Smart Transportation BU and Director of the BU’s Partner Development and Sales Department highlighted the importance of identifying the most suitable information, digital, and intelligent technologies for addressing specific service needs.

Dr. Tony Lee Kar-yun, Operations and Innovation Director at MTR, believed that the integration of digital resources and innovative AI applications can enhance operational efficiency and passenger experience, and pointed out that this integration will serve as the foundation for more efficient urban transportation and more convenient community life.

Mr. Xi Xiaodong, Chief Engineer of Shanghai Rail Transit Maintenance Support Co., Ltd., emphasized the need for metro operators to integrate external resources and enhance internal core capabilities if they are to achieve high-quality development.

Nelson Huang, Rail Business Director of Huawei’s Smart Transportation BU, stated that Huawei integrates innovative ICTs, such as the cloud, big data, 5G, AI, and IoT based on the digital and intelligent foundation for urban rail.

Mr. Xiong Xinbin, Rotating CEO and Senior Vice President of Beijing Railway Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering (BRI) noted that they have deployed Pangu models to empower rail transportation, utilized Ascend and Kunpeng to lay a solid data foundation, and integrated AI to develop a comprehensive intelligent O&M platform.

During the follow-up roundtable salon, Mr. Ji Kun, Overseas Rail Solution Director of Huawei’s Smart Transportation BU; Datuk Dr. Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman, Chairman of the Malaysian Rail Industry Corporation (MARIC); Chan Hing-keung, Chief of Operations Engineering Service & Innovation at MTR; Mr. Xi Xiaodong, Chief Engineer of Shanghai Metro Maintenance and Support; Mr. Xiong Xinbin, Rotating CEO and Senior Vice President of BRI; and David Xu, Vice President of Huawei’s Smart Transportation BU and Director of the BU’s Solution Development I&V Dept — delved into technology enablement scenarios, transformation pain points, data value mining, and user experience upgrade.

Huawei has served more than 300 urban rail lines in over 70 cities around the world. Moving forward, Huawei will deepen its cooperation with industry partners by consistently adhering to the principle of “openness, cooperation, and shared success”. The company is determined to realize convenient travel and smooth logistics, alongside digital and intelligent transportation.

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SOURCE HUAWEI