Investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) will invest more than $1bn in Thai data centers.

The BlackRock-owned company recently announced a partnership with Thailand’s largest conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, and its data center subsidiary True IDC.

The investment will be deployed over three to five years. It will also be used for the implementation of clean energy, R&D, and to broaden its presence across ASEAN nations.

CEO of GIP, Bayo Ogunlesi, said: “The growth of data consumption and AI requires significant amounts of private capital to fund investments to help the world’s leading data center developers and operators provide this essential infrastructure to their customers.”

Thanasorn Jaidee, True IDC’s President, added that the company “has always been committed to driving Thailand to become the digital hub of ASEAN. This collaboration with GIP will accelerate the realization of that goal.”

GIP, which has investments in data center operator CyrusOne and Vodafone tower company Vantage Towers with KKR, was acquired by BlackRock in 2024 for $3bn. It operates the AI Infrastructure Partnership, which is a $30bn AI investment fund backed by parent company BlackRock, Microsoft, Emirati investment firm MGX, Nvidia, and xAI.

CP Group splits its business interests, which are primarily based in Thailand, across eight lines: agro-industry and food, retail and distribution, media and telecoms, e-commerce and digital, property development, automotive and industrial products, pharmaceuticals, and finance and investment. True Corporation, a CP Group and China Mobile-backed telco, merged with Total Access Communication in March 2023.

True IDC, which operates data centers in Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam, was formed as part of CP Group’s digital unit, Ascend Corp, in 2003.

CP Group was considering a partial sale of its subsidiary back in 2022.