The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) announced that applications for investment promotion in 2025 soared 67% in value to 1.877 trillion baht (about US$60.23 billion). Accordingly, this accounted across 3,370 projects, marking an increase of 11% compared to 2024.

According to Mr. Narit Therdsteerasukdi, Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment, the 2025 results signaled a strong surge in investor confidence and a strategic shift toward high-value sectors.

“The 2025 investment figures clearly indicate Thailand’s strong appeal as a destination for global investors,” stated Mr. Narit.

In addition, Mr. Narit said, “We’ve seen robust uptake in key strategic sectors, particularly digital infrastructure and advanced electronics, which directly reflects our successful policy alignment with global trends. This performance firmly establishes the country as a resilient and attractive hub for high-tech manufacturing and innovation in the region.”

FDIs Play Crucial Role

Thailand’s investment appeal is played heavily by foreign direct investments (FDI). In fact, in 2025,  FDI played a crucial role in Thailand’s investment success, with FDIs contributing US$43.65 billion (1,359,925 million baht), an impressive 66% increase from the previous year.

Singapore was the top investor, accounting for US$17.57 billion (547,316 million baht) from 457 projects. Hong Kong followed with US$7.88 billion (245,335 million baht) from 266 projects.

Meanwhile, China contributed US$5.52 billion (172,114 million baht) from 982 projects while Japan had US$3.82 billion (119,098 million baht) from 311 projects. The United Kingdom had US$3.22 billion (100,322 million baht) from 29 projects.

These investments are projected to bring substantial economic benefits to Thailand, including the creation of over 220,000 new jobs for Thai citizens. Furthermore, they are expected to drive the utilization of over US$32.74 billion (1.02 trillion baht) worth of domestic raw materials and generate over US$64.84 billion (2.02 trillion baht) in export revenue.

Thailand is set to leverage the momentum it gained in 2025 for continued growth in 2026 and beyond. The recent high-level engagements at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 in Davos, where Thailand attracted about US$16.05 billion (500 billion Thai bhat) in new and planned investments from global tech giants in the fields of digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced manufacturing.

Critical Sectors

The majority of investments in 2025 poured into Thailand’s targeted industries, underscoring the nation’s strategic focus on innovation and advanced manufacturing.

The digital industry, which includes data centers and cloud services, topped last year for the second time in a row in the sectorial rankings. The industry had US$23.95 billion (746,198 million Thai baht) across 151 projects. Moreover, robust performance was largely driven by significant commitments to data centers, including large-scale hyperscale facilities from companies like Galaxy Peak Data Center, True Internet Data Center, and Zenith Data Centre and Cloud Services. 

Meanwhile, the electronics and electrical appliances (E&E) sector, which had attracted the largest share of investment in recent years, came in second last year with 470 projects valued at US$8.91 billion (277,645 million Thai baht).

This included major projects in high-density battery production, such as Sunwoda Automotive, electronic passive component like Delta Electronics, alongside advanced Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing like Peng Shen Technology, and Panasonic Manufacturing. Investments also flowed into optical and electro-optical devices, including transceivers and specialized flat panel displays.

On the other hand, the Automotive & Parts sector came third with applications of 288 projects valued at US$2.70 billion (84,085 million baht). Agriculture and Food Processing remains a vital sector in Thailand as it drew US$2.43 billion worth of applications across 301 projects. Meanwhile, the Petrochemicals & Chemicals sector secured US$1.87 billion USD (58,396 million baht) across 267 projects.

27 January 2026