Thailand—an IoT vanguard in a dynamic region

Thailand is an emerging player in the Internet of Things space. It has attracted growing attraction and investment in recent years, thanks to its sizable market at the center of the dynamic ASEAN region—which, as a whole, is at the forefront of many IoT trends from smart city to smart manufacturing.
 
Thailand is ahead of many of its peers, not just because it offers favorable tax conditions and pursues regionally unique open-market policies, allowing a wide range of IoT players—from Western countries as well as China—to take a stake in the emerging landscape.
 
Thailand was also among the first countries in the region that rolled out a 5G network—the backbone of every large-scale IoT infrastructure. As of last month, 5G reached 85% of the population. In this respect, Thailand is only behind its ASEAN peer Singapore, which has reached 95%, thanks to being a city-state and facing fewer natural obstacles in its 5G rollout.
 

Planning ahead

Government initiatives and private sector efforts largely go hand-in-hand in Thailand. On the public-sector side, there are several significant programs:
 

• Thailand 4.0 is the flagship national strategy to transform the country from a manufacturing-based to an innovation-driven economy and reach high-income status by 2037, with smart technologies like IoT as a central pillar.
• The Digital Economy Promotion Master Plan is the implementation framework for the digital arm of the strategy, focusing on infrastructure, innovation and adoption across sectors like health, agriculture and industry.
• The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is a development zone focused on three provinces between Bangkok and the Cambodia border that serves as a sandbox for next-generation industries—including IoT—backed by incentives and infrastructure to attract both local and foreign tech investment.

 
Key players in the IoT space include household names in the Thai economy, from previously brick-and mortar companies to utility providers. They include:

• AIS (Advanced Info Service): Thailand's largest mobile network operator is active in smart city solutions and industrial IoT applications across the country. Just this month, AIS won seven out of the eight categories in Opensignal’s 5G Experience Awards for Thai telecoms.
• PTT Group: The state-owned oil and gas conglomerate is an early adopter of smart grid technologies (since 2020), as well as smart energy monitoring based on smart meters connected to a centralized platform (since 2018). As of late, PTT has been investing heavily in AIoT platforms that use machine learning to process data from sensors in pipelines, refineries and storage units. 
• SCG (Siam Cement Group): As one of the country’s oldest conglomerates, founded in 1913, SCG is also a veritable IoT vanguard. Starting with a pilot project at the Saraburi cement plant in 2017, SCG has implemented IoT sensors and digital twins to monitor machinery performance, track material usage and streamline logistics at its sites around Thailand.

 
Aside from well-established homegrown players, foreign tech giants have also joined the fray, especially in the data center space. Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its Asia Pacific Region focus area in January and is planning over $5 billion investment over 15 years. Google announced $1 billion investment last year, and Microsoft has also committed to increasing its footprint in Thailand—including by giving AI training to 2.5 million people across Southeast Asia this year.
 

Incubating the next generation

To nurture local IoT initiatives, Thailand has several IoT incubators, such as “AIS The StartUp”; “True Incube,” operated by Thailand’s second-largest telecom, True Corp; or the “CU Innovation Hub” at Chulalongkorn University. Notable alumni include ViaBus, a startup that operates an app that helps streamline public transportation use in metropolitan Bangkok and is used by over 2 million people.
 
ViaBus is far from alone in this quest: Bangkok—with its traditionally disconnected public transportation systems serving 17 million inhabitants, plus visitors—offers great opportunities for IoT-powered optimization. Bigger players at the intersection of public transport and IoT include Aapico, a homegrown mobility data provider partnering with Nissan, Mitsubishi and ride-hailing service GRAB; DTC, which offers smart pole-powered GPS tracking services for logistics providers; and Oyika, which offers battery swapping services for e-bikes. The operations of the latter are also intersecting with another booming field—IoT-based pollution tracking and, by extension, environmental monitoring and disaster prevention.
 

Safeguarding the future

When a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Myanmar on March 28 this year, Thailand was also severely affected. Footage of the collapse of skyscraper construction site in Bangkok was the most viral image of the disaster on social media. The earthquake served as a wake-up call for the country, which previously mostly thought of floods and other extreme weather events as disaster prevention test cases.
 
After the quake, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra instructed all relevant agencies to improve early warning systems and formulate clear plans and measures to prevent future disasters, including floods, tsunamis, forest fires and earthquakes—effectively calling for more and smarter technology to be deployed across the board.
 
Extreme weather-focused IoT projects already play an important role in keeping Thailand safe. One flagship initiative is smart sluice gates installed by Chinese company Bivocom, which protect critical infrastructure and coastal communities in the Gulf of Thailand by preventing seawater backflow into freshwater systems. The IoT-enabled gates utilize AI-powered sensors and real-time monitoring to automatically adjust gate positions, thereby mitigating flood risks and preserving water quality at a time of increasing climate change risks.
 

From the home to factories

Another example of Thailand's IoT prowess is One Bangkok—the country's largest private sector property development project and a live showcase of urban digitalization. One Bangkok features over 1,000 smart poles equipped with a dense network of IoT gear, including environmental sensors, security cameras, emergency buttons, public Wi-Fi, digital signage and EV chargers. These poles form the backbone of a broader intelligent infrastructure that integrates traffic, energy and environmental data, enabling real-time analytics and predictive services across the site.
 
Smart manufacturing is another major frontier. One of the most high-profile milestones is the opening of the first 5G-powered factory in the country under the ECC. The site, operated by Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer Midea Group, serves as a model for ultra-low latency production, as it makes use of the latest robotics, AI-powered quality control systems and real-time data collection—all made possible by fully integrated IoT.
 
As the country continues to expand its digital infrastructure and incentivize innovation, Thailand is positioning itself not only as a regional IoT leader, but also as a global testbed for the technologies shaping tomorrow's cities, industries and societies. Whether in manufacturing hubs, floodplains or the streets of Bangkok, Thailand’s IoT journey is gaining momentum—and setting an example that others can follow.