Digital competitiveness: Thailand ranks 43rd in IMD list

Digital competitiveness in Thailand ranks 43rd out of 70 economies in the 2026 World Digital and AI Competitiveness Ranking, held back mainly by weak scores for regulation, AI governance and public leadership. The ranking was published by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, and the Bangkok Post reported the Thai results this week.

The United States came first, followed by Singapore and the Netherlands. IMD changed its method this year, using five pillars and 88 indicators with new AI measures, and recalculated past data, so the 2026 results cannot be compared directly with the original 2025 list.

Where Thailand's digital competitiveness falls short

The weakest areas were linked to government and rules rather than technology itself. According to the report, Thailand ranked:

• 50th for regulatory framework.
• 55th for digital and AI governance.
• 59th for public leadership.
• 48th for business agility.
• 31st for overall efficiency.

These scores suggest that companies are adopting new tools faster than the laws and public institutions around them are adapting. Thailand ranked 26th for AI adoption, yet business agility lagged well behind.

The strengths behind the ranking

Thailand did much better on money and infrastructure. Its technological framework ranked 24th, and both AI capital and AI investment ranked 12th. The country also placed ninth in the world for telecommunications investment, sixth for the stock market value of IT and media companies, and 12th for the use of robots in education and research.

That pattern matches recent investment news. Big cloud and data centre projects, including those covered in our reports on Thai data centres and Google's investment in Thailand, have pushed capital spending up even while policy work moves more slowly.

What business leaders want next

Kamoltas Nalintharangkurn, chief executive of the Thailand Management Association (TMA), said AI competitiveness depends on creating new value, raising productivity and driving innovation, not just on buying technology. She said people are essential to turning AI's potential into real economic results.

The TMA urged the country to focus on three priorities:

• Speeding up value creation from AI.
• Strengthening digital trust and AI ethics.
• Building closer links between government, businesses and universities.

It said this work should cover workforce skills, cybersecurity, data protection, responsible AI use and research partnerships with industry. The association's message was that Thailand must move from being a user of AI to an economy that earns more value from it.

What to watch in the next ranking

Because the weakest scores are in regulation, governance and public leadership, the clearest gains are likely to come from policy rather than new spending. Clear rules on AI use, data protection that companies trust, and faster government digital services would all feed into the areas where Thailand sits in the 50s.

The strong investment scores also show the opposite risk. If capital keeps arriving while skills and rules lag behind, Thailand could end up hosting data centres and buying AI tools without capturing much of the value. That is the gap the TMA wants closed, and it is the main test for the country before IMD publishes its next ranking.

Why it matters for Phuket

Phuket's economy runs on tourism, property and services, all of which are adopting AI booking tools, digital payments and online marketing. Better digital governance would make it easier for local firms to use these tools safely, especially as scams and data leaks rise. Our Thai AI survey report looked at how local businesses are using the technology, and our Thailand cyber alert coverage shows why digital trust has become a priority.

Image: True Digital Park in Bangkok, a hub for Thailand's digital competitiveness push. Photo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.