Thailand Investment Applications Surge 37% in First Half of 2025
Investment applications in Thailand surged 37% in the first half of 2025, reaching 1.47 trillion baht and creating 82,000 jobs, with digital industry and foreign direct investment leading growth despite global economic uncertainty.
The Board of Investment (BOI) announced that investment promotion applications in the first half of 2025 (January–June) reached 1.47 trillion baht, generating 82,000 jobs and over 1.2 trillion baht in annual export value. BOI Secretary-General Nurat Therdsteerasukdi stated that despite global economic headwinds from geopolitical instability, energy price fluctuations, and global supply chain restructuring, Thailand's investment outlook remains strong and continues to grow steadily.
From January to June 2025, the board received 1,299 project applications worth 1,473,718 million baht in total investment, up 37% from the same period last year. This growth demonstrates investor confidence in Thailand's role as a future-industry investment base.
The two highest-value investment sectors align with global trends. Digital industry investment topped the list at 1,115,260 million baht from 90 projects, followed by electronics and electrical appliances at 120,230 million baht from 179 projects. Other major sectors included agriculture and food processing (61,388 million baht, 131 projects), high-value logistics services (40,217 million baht, 170 projects), energy and basic infrastructure (39,461 million baht, 221 projects), automotive and parts (25,662 million baht, 122 projects), minerals, metals and materials (20,399 million baht, 128 projects), chemicals and petrochemicals (16,533 million baht, 110 projects), and machinery, automation and robotics (13,093 million baht, 82 projects).
The energy and basic infrastructure sector recorded the highest project count, with 198 renewable energy projects worth 26,354 million baht, mainly solar, wind, biomass, and biogas facilities. This reflects growing investment in clean energy and infrastructure systems such as water supply and industrial water to support industrial demand and future-industry investment.
Geographically, most investment concentrated in the Central Region at 903,759 million baht from 513 projects, followed by the Eastern Region at 495,737 million baht. Other regions included the Northeast (14,985 million baht), South (11,864 million baht), West (8,162 million baht), and North (7,733 million baht). Although the North showed the lowest investment value compared to other regions, it recorded a 93% growth rate year-over-year, signaling expansion in high-potential sectors, particularly energy, infrastructure, agriculture, food processing, and healthcare.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) also expanded significantly, with 877 project applications totaling 1,368,493 million baht, an 80% increase. The top five source countries and regions were Singapore (1,121,742 million baht, 158 projects), the United Kingdom (47,193 million baht, 11 projects), China (45,766 million baht, 321 projects), Taiwan (38,014 million baht, 47 projects), and Japan (32,790 million baht, 123 projects). Most foreign investment targeted the digital industry, including data centers, data hosting, and cloud services, followed by electronics and electrical appliances such as optical transceivers, printed circuit boards (PCBs), hard disk drives, wafer testing, and network systems.
