DATA CENTERS PRO & CON Thailand

EEC Watch Land Watch Thai EPIGRAM Investment in data centers is rapidly expanding in Thailand, particularly in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), through both Thai and foreign investment. This expansion raises concerns about environmental and health impacts, as well as growing competition over key resources, particularly land, water, and electricity. The panel brings together perspectives from academia, civil society, and the political sector to examine data center investment in the EEC and its impacts on people, resources, and the environment, while creating space for the public to examine and question investment and resource-use decisions affecting their communities and livelihoods. A two-hour panel discussion featuring speakers from academia, civil society, and the political sector, presenting different perspectives on data center investment in the EEC and its implications for the environment, health, land, water, and electricity use. Session Flow 1. From AI to Hyperscale Data Centers: The Material Infrastructure of the Digital Economy Larry Lohmann, The Corner House — Online (approximately 20 minutes) AI and data centers through the lens of energy, water, resources, land, and labor, including the inequalities, exploitation, and colonial relations embedded in digital infrastructure. 2. From the Global AI Boom to the EEC: Why Are Data Centers Coming Here? Dr. Somnuck Jongmeewasin, EEC Watch Connecting global expansion with data-center investment in Thailand, particularly the EEC, its resource and infrastructure demands, and implications for Thailand’s development choices. 3. Living with Data Centers: A View from Chonburi Sarayut, Chonburi community representative Community experiences and concerns related to water, electricity, environmental and health impacts, and pressures on local resources. 4. Open Dialogue: Beyond Regulation Connecting global analysis with local experience to ask who benefits, who bears the costs, and what alternatives might go beyond simply regulating data-center expansion. Moderator: Pornpana Kuaycharoen, Land Watch Thai