Thailand's Big Data Institute (BDI) and media company Matichon have signed an MOU to collaboratively develop ThaiLLM, a Thai-language large language model, and establish a National Data Bank for AI. Matichon will supply high-quality Thai-language content from its decades of news archives to train models that understand Thai language, culture, and social context. The initiative aims to build Thailand's AI infrastructure and sovereignty rather than compete globally, supported by Thailand's Digital Economy Fund (DEF).