BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced on Sunday that the country is expecting to receive a minimum of $5 billion in investment from Tesla, Google, and Microsoft. Thavisin stated that “Tesla would be looking into an EV manufacturing facility, Microsoft and Google are looking at data centres.” However, he did not provide details about whether the $5 billion investment is anticipated to be a combined effort or individual investments by each company.
At the time of writing, Tesla, Google, and Microsoft have not responded to requests for comment.
Thavisin made these remarks while speaking to reporters in Bangkok, following his attendance at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. During the assembly, Thavisin had the opportunity to hold discussions with executives from the aforementioned companies.
The injection of fresh foreign investment would be a significant boost to Thailand’s struggling economy, which is projected to grow by 2.8% this year, lower than initial estimates, primarily due to weakened exports.
Last week, Thavisin had a conversation with Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk regarding the electric vehicle sector. In an effort to maintain its position as a regional auto hub, Thailand, the fourth-largest automobile assembly hub in Asia, has been offering incentives to EV and battery manufacturers, as well as tax cuts to local EV buyers.
Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Jamie Freed
Credit: The Star : Tech Feed
