GUIYANG: Chinese and Thai experts have gathered in China’s Guizhou Province to explore ways to deepen comprehensive cooperation in the digital industry and artificial intelligence (AI) between the two countries.
The experts were attending the “China-Thailand Digital Economy Cooperation” exchange event, a bilateral forum held on the sidelines of the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo, which ran from Friday to Sunday in Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou in southwest China.
According to experts at the event, digital industry cooperation between China and Thailand has entered a new stage characterized by full-chain empowerment, diversified business models, deep localization, and systematic upgrading. Digital economy and AI technology cooperation between the two countries has evolved from isolated pilot projects to a more systematic phase.
During the event, a report on China-Thailand digital economy cooperation was released. According to the report, in 2025, the digital economy became Thailand’s top investment sector, attracting about 23.95 billion U.S. dollars in investment across 151 projects and securing the leading position among the country’s high-tech industries.
Chinese digital investment projects in Thailand surged 42 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, with mega-projects rolling out in quick succession, it said.
According to the report, in 2025, bilateral digital trade volume exceeded 110 billion yuan (about 16.35 billion U.S. dollars), growing 22.3 percent year on year — far outpacing traditional goods trade and becoming the primary driver of China-Thailand economic and trade growth.
Nirinthon Sakdiset, director of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) Chengdu Office, said at the event that well-known Chinese companies have already entered a wide range of sectors in Thailand.
Sakdiset noted that Chinese investment projects have grown steadily, with the fastest growth between 2021 and 2025 concentrated in the digital industry, new energy vehicles, and smelting technologies.
Moreover, the report notes that in recent years, China and Thailand have jointly established multiple national-level AI research and development centers, deepening bilateral cooperation in AI research and industrial development.
A joint laboratory established by the two sides focuses on industrial AI, unmanned systems, smart mining, medical AI and low-carbon intelligent technologies. To date, it has implemented over 70 joint technology projects, serving as a core vehicle for technology transfer, joint patent applications, and high-end technical talent development between the two countries.
Experts agreed that cooperation projects are now being implemented across multiple sectors, with China assisting Thailand’s digital transformation in new energy vehicles, embodied intelligence, enterprise digitalization and factory automation. AI applications in education, healthcare, smart tourism and smart agriculture are also bringing technological benefits to ordinary Thai citizens.
Soontaree Songserm, senior executive vice president of the Big Data Institute in Thailand, said Thailand and China share a solid foundation for cooperation, with the digital economy providing an important path for establishing an even closer partnership.
Songserm expressed confidence that both countries can build on the existing foundation and deepen partnership to foster closer ties between governments, enterprises, universities, research institutions, and technology sectors on both sides, translating cooperation into more tangible outcomes.
The expo, themed “Token: A New Path to Value of Data Elements,” attracted 372 domestic and international companies and over 16,000 registered guests, showcasing new technologies, products and applications in areas including the token economy, computing power, large model innovation and data element circulation.
China’s data industry is sustaining its rapid growth momentum, with its scale reaching 6.78 trillion yuan in 2025, up 15.7 percent year on year, according to figures released at the expo’s opening. –Agencies
