Thailand ranks 43rd of 70 economies in IMD’s 2026 digital and AI ranking

Thailand ranked 43rd of 70 economies in the 2026 IMD World Digital and AI Ranking (WDAIR), according to results released by the Thailand Management Association (TMA) in Bangkok on November 11, 2026.

TMA said Thailand’s strengths in technology investment and openness to artificial intelligence (AI) were being constrained by weaknesses in governance and trust. Improving competitiveness would require stronger rules, workforce capabilities and public confidence, alongside investment.

IMD’s new framework changes year-on-year comparisons

IMD’s World Competitiveness Center, part of Switzerland’s International Institute for Management Development, expanded and renamed its former World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (WDCR) to incorporate AI more fully. TMA said the change reflected AI’s emergence as essential infrastructure and a strategic driver of national competitiveness.

IMD’s 2026 framework replaces three main factors with five, comprising 15 sub-factors and 88 indicators, including new AI measures. Coverage increased from 69 economies to 70.

TMA stressed that comparisons with previous years must use historical data recalculated by IMD under the new framework. The methodological changes and expanded coverage affect scores and positions, so the results cannot be compared directly with the original WDCR 2025 report.

Thailand’s technology strengths contrast with governance gaps

Thailand’s strongest factor was technology and infrastructure, ranked 23rd. TMA identified governance and values as the main constraints on the country’s ability to translate technological capabilities into broader competitiveness.

1. Governance — 55th. Thailand ranked 50th for regulatory framework, 55th for digital and AI governance, and 59th for public leadership. TMA noted that more than half of the indicators assessed ranked 35th or worse.

2. Technology and infrastructure — 23rd. Thailand placed 24th for technological framework, 12th for capital and AI investment, and 32nd for research infrastructure. Standout indicators included telecommunications investment, ranked ninth; IT and media stock market capitalisation, sixth; and robots in education and research and development, 12th.

3. Efficiency — 31st. Thailand ranked 24th for practices, 48th for business agility and 26th for AI adoption. The newly included Network Readiness Index was a weakness, at 61st.

4. Workforce development — 39th. Thailand placed 35th for talent, 33rd for education and training, and 43rd for AI readiness. The country ranked seventh for its share of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates, but TMA highlighted a contrasting weakness in scientific and technical employment that required attention.

5. Values — 47th. Thailand ranked 58th for cybersecurity and AI ethics, 44th for societal attitudes and 46th for trust. Government social media monitoring was identified as a weak indicator, ranked 60th.

US leads as economies pursue different AI models

The United States topped WDAIR 2026, followed by Singapore and the Netherlands. Singapore was the only economy to rank among the top five in every main factor.

Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, cautioned that readiness could not be judged by the prominence of national AI ambitions alone.

“The countries best placed to benefit from AI are not necessarily those with the grandest national AI rhetoric or the largest number of independent AI projects,” Bris said in remarks cited by TMA.

TMA’s analysis described different routes to AI readiness. The United States benefited from substantial investment, a strong technology sector and relatively relaxed regulation. China, ranked seventh, emphasised state-led deployment and scaling, while European economies focused on consumer protection, governance and safety. Singapore combined balanced strengths across the assessment.

TMA noted that AI was spreading rapidly but unevenly, with organisations often gaining access to the technology before supporting infrastructure was ready. Success depended on making experimentation cheaper, safer, easier to integrate and trusted by society.

WDAIR 2026 also highlighted a tension between technological strength and governance. According to TMA, the strongest technology performers often ranked lower on governance, creating potential future costs, while commercial opportunities depended on applications that consumers and citizens accepted.

TMA added that corporate AI capabilities remained concentrated among leading technology companies. AI had become a systemic component of competitiveness, but its wider economic impact depended on the readiness of the surrounding ecosystem.

TMA proposes skills, trust and ecosystem reforms

Kamoltharath Nalintharangul, TMA’s executive director, said the results showed why investment and technology adoption alone were insufficient.

“Competitiveness in the AI era depends not only on investment or technology adoption, but on the ability to use AI to create new value, raise productivity and drive innovation,” Kamoltharath said.

“People are critical to turning AI’s potential into real economic outcomes,” Kamoltharath added.

TMA proposed three strategic priorities to prepare people, organisations and the wider ecosystem to create lasting economic value:

1. Accelerate AI-driven value creation. Strengthen the capabilities of people at every level and of organisations to use AI for productivity, innovation, new business models and economic opportunities.

2. Strengthen digital trust and AI ethics. Build confidence through appropriate governance, cybersecurity, data protection and ethical AI use, supporting stable and sustainable digital economic growth.

3. Build a strong AI ecosystem. Connect government, businesses and educational institutions so that policy, research, workforce development and business adoption reinforce one another, expanding innovation and economic value nationwide.

“Thailand must move beyond simply using AI to creating value from it, with people at its heart, trust as its foundation and cooperation across all sectors driving sustainable competitiveness,” Kamoltharath said.