Thailand’s Data Center Business Policy Committee voted on October 1, 2026, to stop regulating data centers as a subtype of “large buildings” and give them their own legal category, with five size tiers set mainly by electricity draw, according to The Nation Thailand. The decision determines which safety, water, backup-fuel and electricity-tariff rules a facility falls under — but the committee has not yet written the transition rule for the 49 data centers still under construction when the freeze began.

What the Policy Committee Actually Approved on October 1

The Data Center Business Policy Committee, a national body chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, approved a change in legal definition so that qualifying facilities are classified as “data centre” rather than swept into Thailand’s existing “large buildings” category — the same designation used for office towers, hospitals and shopping malls, according to The Nation Thailand’s October 1 report.

Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob told the meeting that data centers will now be split into five size categories, up from three, based primarily on how much electricity each facility draws. The tiers are meant to set different safety standards, structural requirements and backup fuel tank sizing by size class, though the committee has not yet published the kWh or MW thresholds that separate one tier from the next.

The Month That Got Thailand Here

The October 1 vote is the latest step in a sequence that started two months earlier. The regulation establishing the Data Center Business Policy Committee itself was published in the Royal Gazette on August 13, 2026, and took effect the next day. On September 4, a separate Cabinet-level board paused construction on roughly 49 data center projects and froze approvals on another 117 awaiting permits, while regulators finished drafting the rules both groups would eventually have to meet.

That sequence matters because it means Thailand built the freeze before it built the rulebook. Developers who broke ground before September 4 have been sitting on half-built facilities for over a month with no published criteria to build toward — and the October 1 meeting, while it settled the legal category and tier count, still left the actual thresholds to a subcommittee due to meet the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning before the framework goes to Cabinet.

The Price Fork Built Into the New Category

Separating data centers from the general building code also separates how they pay for power. Chaichanok outlined a two-tier electricity structure for the new category: operators that buy clean power through a direct power purchase agreement (PPA) with a renewable generator, or otherwise source renewable electricity, qualify for a lower special rate; operators drawing from Thailand’s regular grid pay a standard rate, which runs higher. The National Energy Policy Council had approved the principle of a separate, higher-priced data-center tariff class back on July 15, 2026, with the Energy Regulatory Commission tasked with setting the exact figure; local reporting has put the standard rate in a range of roughly 5 to 6 baht per kilowatt-hour, against about 3 baht per kWh for a household’s first 200 kWh each month.

For a building that already runs a server room or colocation floor under the old “large buildings” code, this is the detail that actually bites: reclassification is not just a paperwork change. It resets which tariff schedule, and which incentive for buying renewable power directly, applies to that floor.

The Transition Period That Doesn’t Exist Yet

The committee did acknowledge the gap. Officials said operators that had already invested in construction or begun offering services, but don’t meet the new size-tier criteria once published, will get a transition period, which the government described as a way to balance regulation with keeping the investment climate intact. The Nation Thailand’s report does not state how long that period will run, and it won’t be defined until the subcommittees finish the technical criteria and the full framework clears the Cabinet — a step officials are targeting within one month of the October 1 meeting, meaning early November 2026 at the earliest.

That leaves a specific window of exposure: any project that started before September 4, or any existing building with a data hall that hasn’t yet confirmed which of the five tiers it will land in, is operating against a rulebook that is still being written around it.

What This Means for a Building Owner Weighing a Data-Hall Conversion

For an ASEAN building owner or portfolio manager with a colocation or data-hall asset in Thailand — or weighing a conversion of existing floor space into one — the immediate task is not to guess at the size-tier thresholds, which are not public yet. It is to confirm, in writing, two things once the subcommittee reports back: which of the five tiers the asset falls into, and whether it qualifies for the transition period as a facility already under construction or in service. Buildings that can document renewable sourcing or a direct PPA now will also be positioned to capture the lower tariff tier as soon as the Energy Regulatory Commission finalizes the rate, rather than defaulting to the standard grid price by omission.

Key takeaways

  • Thailand’s Data Center Business Policy Committee voted on October 1, 2026, to legally separate data centers from the “large buildings” code and split them into five electricity-based size tiers, up from three.
  • The new category carries its own two-tier electricity pricing: a lower rate for operators sourcing clean power through a direct PPA or renewables, and a higher standard rate for those on the regular grid.
  • Thailand froze construction on about 49 data centers and approvals on 117 more on September 4, 2026, before the criteria those projects must meet were written.
  • A transition period for projects already under construction or in service was promised on October 1 but left undefined, pending subcommittee work and a Cabinet decision targeted for within one month.
  • Building owners with existing or planned data-hall space in Thailand should confirm their size-tier placement and transition-period eligibility as soon as the subcommittee publishes thresholds, rather than waiting for the Cabinet vote.