Science and technology - Open Development Mekong

Google invests 36 billion baht to boost Thai cloud and AI services

Google committed to a significant investment of 36 billion baht to expand its cloud infrastructure and data centres in Bangkok and Chon Buri, announced on Monday, September 30. Ruth Porat, the President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google, highlighted that this expansion aims to meet the growing demand for cloud services in Southeast Asia and globally, while also promoting Thailand’s role in the […]

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Alibaba to build Vietnam data center to follow local storage law

HO CHI MINH CITY — Alibaba plans to build a data center in Vietnam to store data locally in compliance with legal requirements, while it currently relies on government-owned facilities. The Chinese tech group told Nikkei Asia that for now it rents space for computer servers from telecommunications companies Viettel and VNPT, providing one example […]

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Thailand’s DES ministry to establish national AI committee

Plans are underway by the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry in Thailand to establish a new national artificial intelligence (AI) committee. The initiative is part of the second phase of the national AI strategy. The strategy is a cornerstone of Thailand’s ASEAN Digital Economy and AI Hub Plan, a key driver for the country’s digital economy. The […]

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Nvidia to Expand Ties with Vietnam, Support AI Development

HANOI, VIETNAM — U.S. chipmaker Nvidia’s chief executive said on Monday the company will expand its partnership with Vietnam’s top tech firms and support the country in training talent for developing artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. Nvidia, which has already invested $250 million in Vietnam, has so far partnered with leading tech companies to deploy AI […]

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China vows closer security ties with Mekong states as cyber scams, Myanmar unrest have cross-border impact

China and its five Southeast Asian neighbours along the Lancang-Mekong River have agreed to focus on security cooperation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. “We will resolutely combat cross-border crime in the [region], especially cyber fraud and gambling,” Wang said after the annual Lancang-Mekong Cooperation foreign ministers’ meeting with Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Lancang is the […]

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Cambodia: Access to Independent Media Blocked

(Bangkok) – The Cambodian government has issued an order to internet service providers to block access to online websites and social media accounts of three major independent media outlets, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should lift its orders to block access to the three outlets – The Cambodia Daily, Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Kamnotra. The action was taken […]

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‘Rise of AI’ may fuel disinformation, threaten democracy

JAKARTA – Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said growing disinformation had become the most difficult challenge for democracies, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) would allow propaganda by authoritarian forces to be generated and distributed at an unprecedented rate. “They progressively promote the narrative that democracy has faltered and is inefficient, therefore, the less democratic option will be […]

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Generative AI: A Threat to Copyright?

ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI, provides many new opportunities, yet concerns have been raised over copyright issues as it seems unclear who owns the generated content: the users, tech companies or data owners? ChatGPT generates search results based on the data available on the Internet and the data users input […]

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AI Weather Forecast Startup Sets Sights On Asia-Pacific Region

Atmo, an AI weather forecast system, has set its sights on the Asia-Pacific region to help improve the lives of citizens, said CEO Alexander Levy in an interview during the COP27 climate summit in Egypt last November. Levy said during the interview that the Asia-Pacific region is “a vulnerable place” due to the massive population and […]

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Southeast Asia’s Data Localization Push is a Double-Edged Sword

With the publication of the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 (ADM 2025), member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have endeavored to promote the digitalization of the region. In this digital transformation process, data is essential because every interaction in the digital world produces and relies on data. Realizing the significance of data, Southeast Asian countries have […]

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