Bangkok: BOI reveals that the number of investment promotion applications in the first half of 2025 exceeded 1 trillion baht from 1,880 projects. Investment continues to grow amid global uncertainty, led by the digital, electronics and smart electrical appliance industries, reflecting Thailand’s potential to become a strong investment hub in the region.
According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Narit Therdsathirasakdi, Secretary-General of the Board of Investment (BOI), revealed that investment trends in Thailand in 2025 will continue to grow at a high rate and continue to receive interest from investors. In the first half of the year (January – June 2025), there was a significant increase in applications for investment promotion, both in terms of project numbers and investment capital. The number of applications for investment promotion was 1,880 projects, an increase of 38 percent compared to the same period last year. The total investment value was 1,058,225 million baht, an increase of 138 percent, reflecting confidence and Thailand’s role as a major investment hub in the region.
The industrial groups with high investment value are: Digital 522,577 million baht (89 projects), Electronics and electrical appliances 125,786 million baht (268 projects), Automotive and parts 45,195 million baht (172 projects), Electricity generation from renewable energy 42,238 million baht (191 projects), Agriculture and food processing 30,785 million baht (184 projects), Petrochemicals and chemicals 26,726 million baht (161 projects), Medicine 18,582 million baht (68 projects), and Tourism 12,894 million baht (17 projects), respectively.
Interesting projects requesting promotion in the first half of 2025, reflecting Thailand’s prominence as a regional investment hub in automotive, semiconductor, electronics, and digital, include examples such as large-scale data center investment projects, Japanese car manufacturers’ expansion projects to produce electric cars and pickup trucks, production of power control units (PCUs) for hybrid cars, production of battery cells for use in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, production of special capacitors used in electronic devices such as notebooks, smartphones, and AI data centers, chip assembly and testing, and production of printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to expand, with 1,369 projects applying for promotion, an increase of 59 percent, with a total investment of 737,572 million baht, an increase of 132 percent. The top 5 countries/economic zones with the highest value of applications for promotion are Singapore at 246,977 million baht, Hong Kong at 218,638 million baht, China at 102,263 million baht, the United Kingdom at 93,726 million baht, and Japan at 49,819 million baht, respectively. The foreign investment that more than doubled was due to investments in large data centers from Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, China, and Japan. This investment will help enhance Thailand’s potential to become a digital hub in the region, supporting new industries such as AI and IoT both domestically and connecting to markets in the ASEAN region.
In terms of area, most of the investment was in the Eastern region, with a value of 660,631 million baht from 1,011 projects, followed by the Central region at 333,654 million baht, the Southern region at 20,081 million baht, the Northeast region at 19,354 million baht, the Western region at 11,342 million baht, and the Northern region at 4,571 million baht, respectively.
In addition, the request for promotion under the measure to upgrade the industry to Smart and Sustainable Industry, which is an investment to improve the efficiency of existing businesses, has continuously increased the interest. In the first half of 2025, there were 365 projects requesting promotion, an increase of 99 percent, with a total investment value of 26,741 million baht, an increase of 43 percent, most of which were investments in energy saving, renewable energy use, reducing environmental impact, modernizing machinery, using digital technology, automation systems and robots to increase production efficiency.
For the approval of investment promotion in the first half of 2025, there are 1,504 projects with an investment value of 904,063 million baht. The benefits of these approved projects are expected to create more than 110,000 Thai jobs, use raw materials in the country of approximately 360 billion baht/year, accounting for 42 percent of the total value of raw materials, and increase the country’s export value by more than 780 billion baht/year. While the issuance of promotion cards, which is the step closest to actual investment, there are 1,310 projects with a total investment of 652,903 million baht.
‘Although the global situation is full of uncertainty and risks, the business world must move forward. Many companies need to look beyond the current volatility and focus on short-term risk management, along with long-term investment strategies, by selecting investment sources with good fundamentals, readiness of public utilities and supply chains, quality personnel, and supportive measures from the government. Many leading investors are confident in our potential and have decided to expand their investments in Thailand, resulting in continuous growth in investment statistics in the first half of the year, especially in industries that use advanced technology, including digital technology and AI, electronic products, smart electrical appliances, automobiles and parts, as well as agriculture, food, and renewable energy, all of which are target industries that play an important role in national development,’ said Mr. Narit.