TikTok plans to invest $8.8 billion in Thailand over the next five years, focusing on digital infrastructure, workforce development and online safety initiatives, a senior executive said Friday after talks with the government.
The social media platform owned by China鈥檚 ByteDance is the latest in a string of big tech names to announce major spending projects in the kingdom, after Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Helena Lersch, TikTok鈥檚 vice president of public policy, met Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Bangkok on Friday to discuss the expansion.
鈥榃e are here today to announce the $8.8 billion,鈥� Lersch told the PM in public remarks at the start of their meeting.
Paetongtarn hailed the investment in Thailand鈥檚 digital infrastructure and AI development as a major opportunity for the country.
The investment includes training programmes for businesses and creators, anti-fraud campaigns, and a new data hosting service to enhance local cloud capabilities.
It is not clear whether the cash includes a $3.8 billion investment from TikTok approved by Thailand鈥檚 Board of Investment in late January.
The Thai move comes as TikTok faces being banned in the United States over national security concerns about the data it gathers on users.
The popular video-sharing app briefly went dark on January 18 and disappeared from app stores, to the dismay of millions of users.