{"id":130690,"date":"2024-05-30T09:36:50","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T02:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestorythailand.com\/?p=130690"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:30:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T17:30:31","slug":"huawei-cultivate-digital-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestorythailand.com\/en\/huawei-cultivate-digital-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Thailand needs more creators to cultivate digital ecosystem, says Huawei executive."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thailand\u2019s digital ecosystem is strong on the user side but still needs more creators or engineers to achieve its goal of becoming a regional hub, says David Li<\/strong>, Executive Chairman of Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Huawei has the technology, financial resources, and commitment to help the country cultivate the local ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Li, the Chinese technology giant is working with Thai startups, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), universities, and corporate clients to promote \u201cdigital Thailand\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chairman said Huawei often invited Thai customers and developers to visit its headquarters in Shenzhen, China, to learn about research and development (R&D). He also pointed out that Shenzhen is just a two hours\u2019 flight from Thailand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very glad to see Thailand\u2019s government launch a national digital blueprint, commit [the country] to be a digital hub for the region, and even have a cloud-first strategy. This is a very positive step,\u201d Li said during his recent interview with a group of Thai journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With national budget set aside to fund the effort, he said this was a \u201ca very good trend\u201d to cultivate the country\u2019s digital ecosystem and to promote the \u201cdigital Thailand\u201d plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Li emphasizes that a lack of digital talents is \u201cthe number one problem\u201d that could prevent the country from moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout talents, you cannot build up your local ecosystem. Then you can always be the user. This is the reason we continue to invest and cooperate with all the stakeholders, including the government, universities, startups, system integrators, industry SMEs, and our clients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li points out that with more investments from the public and private sectors in digital technology, more jobs will be created and young people will be increasingly attracted to study this field and become digital creators \u2013 which he describes as \u201ca very positive circle to change the digital landscape\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-term commitment.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The executive said Huawei’s long-term commitment to Thailand is to help the country cultivate its digital ecosystem through investment and training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuawei is one of the most confident investors in terms of data centers in Thailand. We keep investing in three data centers, and the good news is our business grows very well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huawei is the only cloud vendor to build three data centers in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked to comment on US tech giant Microsoft\u2019s plan to set up its first data center in Thailand, Li said Huawei welcomes more players in the cloud sector as they could together help Thailand cultivate its digital ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s not the time for zero-sum game. I think all the players should position themselves to serve their clients well together to ensure a smooth digital journey and make Thailand develop faster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partnership with the locals.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Li, the tech giant will keep increasing its investment in Thailand, but he refused to disclose further details regarding the exact amount of investment or the location of a new data center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding its contribution to training, Huawei has partnered with 40 Thailand universities to teach students about database, cloud technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are committed to develop 10,000 AI software developers,\u201d he said, adding that Huawei ASEAN Academy has trained about 70,000 people in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li also said that Huawei is working with more than 300 cloud partners in Thailand who are local SME software developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe offer them training and program. And we even have R&D support for them. Basically, this is our approach. We cultivate local ecosystem with a lot of local partners in the government and private companies. This is the approach we serve Thailand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next-generation database.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At Huawei\u2019s Cloud Database Summit Thailand 2024 in May, Li launched GaussDB \u2013 the Chinese tech giant\u2019s next-generation distributed database \u2013 in the Thai market. He described it as a \u201cpowerful solution to unlock the full value of data to give the world a better choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GaussDB, under development for over two decades since 2001, has been fully validated in practical applications. Huawei\u2019s own commercial database has been migrated to GaussDB, helping it to reduce the time needed to generate annual reports from 30 days to just 10 days. Also, a top Chinese bank has used GaussDB to transform legacy databases supporting over 150 business systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the recent Huawei event in Bangkok, Li also pointed to four major challenges to fully unleash the data value in the era of Big Data and AI:<\/p>\n\n\n\n