BANGKOK -- Huawei Technologies Thailand on Wednesday announced plans to invest 700 million baht ($23 million) in establishing its third data center in Thailand in the year 2021 as part of the tech powerhouse's effort in supporting Thailand to be become a digital hub of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The amount is equivalent to the total investment in its first data center, in the Eastern Economic Corridor in 2018, and the second in Bangkok, in 2019, said Abel Deng, chief executive of Huawei Technologies Thailand, in a press conference titled "Powering Digital Thailand 2021: Huawei Cloud and Connect" in Bangkok on Wednesday.

"We have our mission, which is to grow in Thailand and contribute to Thailand," Abel said.

Abel said that with Huawei's end-to-end solution technology and its vast experiences in the tech industry, he believes Huawei can help Thailand realize its ambition to become a digital hub in ASEAN region.

Huawei had seen the tremendous progress made in the growth of the digital economy in Thailand, starting with Thailand's 4.0 policy, which reflected Thailand's aim to become a digital leader in the region, Abel said.

The Huawei Thailand based chief said Thailand's digital infrastructure was now ready to be empowered into a leading position, thanks to the Thai government's efforts to accelerate the adoption of 5G through 5G licence auctions in February.

"We are confident of Thailand's potential to become ASEAN's first digital hub, and this will help Thailand's digital economy contribute to 30 percent of the GDP by 2030," Abel said.