Thailand’s Gulf Development and Singapore’s Singtel will invest in a Vietnam-Thailand-Singapore submarine cable to meet rising demand for cloud, AI and data-center services across Southeast Asia.
In separate statements on Thursday, Gulf and Singtel said they agreed a strategic partnership on Wednesday. The companies did not disclose the investment size, saying capital spending would be spread over several years.
Their first project is the Vietnam-Thailand-Singapore (VTS) Cable System, a new subsea link. Gulf and Singtel said the project can become operational by 2030.
The partnership combines Gulf’s infrastructure and digital businesses with Singtel’s submarine-cable operations. The cooperation aims to provide higher-capacity international connectivity for data centers, cloud providers, and AI services across the region. It builds on existing Gulf-Singtel work in Thailand in telecommunications and data centers.
Singtel in Singapore and its Thai associate, Advanced Info Service (AIS), will draw on their networks and customer reach to support the system’s development and commercialization. Gulf and Singtel could also consider terrestrial and other subsea cables in future, they said.
Sarath Ratanavadi, chief executive of Gulf Development, called the tie-up an important step in the company’s digital-infrastructure strategy and in Thailand’s ambition to become a leading digital and AI economy.
Yuen Kuan Moon, Singtel’s group chief executive, said the partnership would deepen cable links between the two countries to meet growing cloud, AI and data-center demand.
The VTS name and route match the Vietnam-Singapore cable that Vietnam’s Viettel and Singtel launched in April 2024. Accordingly, Viettel manages the landing station in Vietnam and Thailand featured as a branch connection, alongside Cambodia and Malaysia.
Gulf and Singtel said their project as a new link and expect it to operate by 2030, later than the second quarter of 2027 timeline that Viettel and Singtel originally targeted.
Gulf Development, listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, is a Thai energy and infrastructure group expanding into data centres and digital services. Singtel is a Singapore-based telecommunications group. Viettel is Vietnam’s largest telecommunications and technology company.