Thailand investment application soars to record high since 2015

This is the highest level recorded since 2015.

The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) said that applications for investment promotion in the first nine months of 2024 increased by 42% on year in value to ฿722.5b (US$ 21.7b), which was the highest level since 2015.

The applications for projects in targeted industries accounted for 68% of the total investment value, led by the E&E sector with 291 projects worth a combined ฿183.4b, followed by the digital sector with 107 projects worth ฿94.2b, and the automotive and parts sector with 212 projects worth ฿67.8b.

"The investment applications in the first nine months clearly demonstrate the rising confidence of investors in key tech industries that Thailand is the strategically located, safe, and resilient place that's best for their business," said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary general of the BOI.

The number of applications for investment promotion during January to September increased by 46% to 2,195 projects, from 1,501 projects in the same period of 2023. The adjusted investment value of the projects applied in the first nine months of 2023 was ฿509.4b.

FDI during the nine months increased 38% from the year earlier period to ฿546.6b.

The agriculture and food processing sector saw 226 projects worth a combined value of ฿53b, whilst there were a total of 162 petrochemicals and chemicals projects with a combined value of ฿34.3b.

Singapore was the top source of FDI with applications worth ฿180.8b, more than twice the ฿79.7b seen in the year earlier period, due to large investments in E&E and data centers by units of Chinese and American companies.

China ranked second with ฿114.1b, up 18% from ฿96.5b a year earlier, and was followed by applications from companies based in Hong Kong SAR (฿68.2b), Taiwan region (฿44.6b), and Japan (฿35.5b).

E&E applications this year have included the ฿11.5b investment by FT1 Corporation, a Thailand-Hong Kong-Singapore wafer manufacturing joint venture between Hana Microelectronics and PTT Group that will start producing silicon carbide wafers as early as the first quarter of 2027.

Several printed circuit board (PCB) applications were also filed this year, such as China-based Multi-Fineline Electronics' project to invest ฿13.9b to manufacture multilayer PCBs and flexible PCBs in Thailand.

Electrical appliance project applications filed so far this year include China's Haier Appliance Manufacturing's ฿13.5b investment in a new smart air conditioners manufacturing facility and Taipei-based Inventec Electronics' investment of ฿11.8b for the manufacturing of smart electrical appliances and smart electronic devices, including PCBA, notebooks, docking stations.

As for the digital sector, most of the investment value came from applications to setup large data centers by units of large tech and cloud service companies such as Google (Alphabet) from the U.S., Australia's NextDC, and India's CtrlS Datacenters.

Automotive sector applications include Continental AG group's Continental Tyres (Thailand) Co., Ltd. project to spend a total of ฿13.4b to expand its tire plant in Rayong Province and boost annual production by an additional 3 million high-performance radial tires, mostly for export.

(฿1 = US$0.030)