Thailand ranks 43rd of 70 in digital and AI competitiveness
Thailand has been ranked 43rd among 70 economies in the 2026 World Digital and AI Competitiveness Ranking, with low scores in three sub-factors: regulatory framework, digital and AI governance, and public leadership.
The ranking was compiled by the World Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). Thailand ranked 50th for its regulatory framework, 55th for digital and AI governance and 59th for public leadership. Its technology framework ranked 42nd, while it placed 21st for both AI capital and AI investment.
Among its strengths, Thailand ranked ninth globally for telecommunications investment, sixth for the stock market capitalisation of IT and media companies, and 21st for the use of robots in education and research. Overall efficiency stood at 13th, but business agility ranked 48th and AI adoption 26th.
Kornraht Nilanont, chief executive of the Thailand Management Association, said AI competitiveness depends not merely on investment or technology adoption but on the ability to generate new value, improve productivity and drive innovation. She stressed that people were essential to turning AI's potential into tangible economic outcomes.
The IMD placed the US first globally, followed by Singapore and the Netherlands. The association urged Thailand to prioritise three areas: accelerating AI-driven value creation, strengthening digital trust and AI ethics, and building a stronger ecosystem linking government, business and educational institutions. It said measures should focus on workforce capabilities, cyber security, data protection, responsible AI adoption and stronger collaboration between research institutions and industry, adding that Thailand must move beyond being an AI user to becoming an economy capable of generating greater value from the technology. The 2026 ranking introduces five assessment pillars and 88 indicators, including new AI-related measures, and IMD revised its methodology and recalculated historical data, so the latest results cannot be compared directly with the original 2025 ranking.
