SI-011-03 :
ASEAN Digital Backbone
& Data Routing Infrastructure

Situation

Southeast Asia’s digital traffic is growing exponentially, driven by cloud adoption, streaming, e-commerce, AI workloads, and cross-border digital services. However, a large portion of regional data flows is still routed through infrastructure controlled by external hubs such as Singapore and non-ASEAN network nodes.

Thailand currently plays a passive transit role, with limited control over:

• Regional data routing paths

• Subsea cable landing dominance

• Internet exchange concentration

• Cross-border fiber integration

This results in Thailand being geographically central—but not structurally dominant in ASEAN’s data flow architecture.

Shift

The global digital infrastructure landscape is shifting from decentralized internet routing → strategically controlled data corridors.

Nations are investing in:

• Subsea cable dominance and landing rights

• Regional data exchange hubs (IXPs)

• Cross-border fiber corridors

• Low-latency routing control for AI and real-time systems

Control over data movement (not just storage) is becoming a critical layer of digital power—similar to control over shipping lanes or energy pipelines.

Advantage

Thailand has a unique opportunity to become the Central Data Routing Node of Mainland ASEAN:

• Strategic geographic position connecting CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) with Malaysia and Singapore

• Potential to serve as a land-based alternative routing corridor

• Strong domestic telecom infrastructure capable of regional expansion

• Alignment with Land Bridge and logistics strategies (SI-007 / SI-008)

This allows Thailand to evolve into:

“ASEAN’s Digital Transit Corridor”

—not just a data consumer, but a data flow controller.

Additional Structural Advantage

Thailand can build a multi-layer digital backbone system:

• Subsea Cable Layer → Increase landing points on both Andaman and Gulf sides

• Terrestrial Fiber Layer → Cross-border high-capacity fiber linking ASEAN mainland

• Internet Exchange Layer (IXP) → National and regional traffic exchange hubs

• Edge Node Layer → Distributed compute nodes for low-latency services

• Routing Control Layer → Intelligent traffic routing, redundancy, and resilience systems

This creates a hybrid sea–land digital corridor, reducing dependency on single-point routing hubs.

Implication

Without control over data routing infrastructure:

• Thailand remains dependent on external hubs for regional data flows

• Loses strategic leverage in the digital economy

• Increased vulnerability to disruptions, bottlenecks, or geopolitical constraints

• Limited ability to capture value from cross-border digital traffic

With a strong digital backbone strategy:

• Thailand becomes a regional data transit and exchange hub

• Captures value from data routing, interconnection, and latency-sensitive services

• Strengthens digital resilience and redundancy for national systems

• Enables next-generation applications (AI inference, real-time logistics, fintech networks)

Action Layer