24-9-2023 (BANGKOK) Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced on Sunday that Thailand is poised to receive a minimum of $5 billion in investments from prominent tech giants Tesla, Google, and Microsoft. Speaking to reporters in Bangkok after his participation in the UN General Assembly in New York, Srettha revealed that Tesla is exploring the establishment of an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility, while Microsoft and Google are considering the construction of data centres. However, it remains unclear whether the $5 billion investment is a collective sum or individual contributions from each company.
Requests for comments from Tesla, Google, and Microsoft went unanswered at the time of reporting.
Srettha held discussions with executives from these companies during his visit to New York. The injection of fresh foreign investments would provide a much-needed boost to Thailand’s struggling economy, which is projected to grow by 2.8% this year, falling short of earlier estimates due to weakened exports.
Notably, Srettha had a conversation with Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, last week, primarily focusing on the electric vehicle sector. As Asia’s fourth-largest automobile assembly hub, Thailand has been actively offering incentives to EV and battery manufacturers, as well as tax cuts for local EV buyers, in order to maintain its position as a leading regional automotive hub.
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