Thailand does not usually feature in the story of the AI boom. This year it does. Foreign firms applied to invest 1.37tn baht, about $40.6bn, in the first six months of 2026, the country’s Board of Investment said on Thursday. That is up 80% on a year earlier.
One sector explains most of it. Digital projects, chiefly AI and data centres, drew 1.12tn baht, more than three-quarters of all applications, Bloomberg reported. Across all industries the board logged 1,299 bids, with foreign money targeting 877 projects.
The numbers describe a shift bigger than one country’s ledger. The world’s hyperscalers are hunting for land, power, and permits, and Southeast Asia keeps saying yes. Google, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft have all announced cloud build-outs in the country. In May the board waved through TikTok’s 842bn-baht data-infrastructure expansion.
What the money is really buying
For Bangkok, the appeal is jobs and status. The approved projects should create more than 82,000 jobs, generate annual exports above 1.24tn baht, and consume 386bn baht of local materials a year, board secretary-general Narit Therdsteerasukdi said.
