Bangkok Post – Digital industry sentiment improves slightly in first quarter

The Digital Industry Sentiment Index climbed to 54.1 in the first quarter this year from 53.0 in the fourth quarter of 2023 based on an improving economy, helped by recent stimulus campaigns.

The index remained in the confident range, according to the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (Depa).

The digital industry continues to urge the government to introduce measures to attract foreign digital workers and help the industry handle disruption from deep technology, such as generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

The industry also wants the government to support entrepreneurs entering the green digital arena, noted Depa.

According to the quarterly survey, business revenue, production volume, orders and costs increased, while employment and investment declined.

Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president and chief executive of Depa, said the survey covers 400 business operators in five sectors: hardware and smart devices, software, digital service, digital content, and telecom.

The factors that led to an uptick in the index included economic growth among Thailand’s trading partners and government stimulus campaigns, such as the visa-free policy for certain groups of tourists and tax benefits from the Easy E-receipt campaign.

The minimum wage hike implemented earlier this year had an impact on the country’s production costs and employment.

According to the survey, entrepreneurs remain concerned about access to financial resources and rising production costs, particularly those associated with importing raw materials and costs related to personnel.

The country’s push towards a green transformation also resulted in higher business expenses, noted Depa.

The survey found all industries recorded index values of 50 or higher, with software tallying 57.2, digital services 56.6, hardware and smart devices 51.6, telecom 50.7 and digital content 50.0.

The country’s digital entrepreneurs hope the government will adjust its strategies to promote the industry by providing clear guidance on funding opportunities, as well as reviewing and improving training courses to develop a digital workforce both in terms of quality and quantity, said Mr Nuttapon.

They want relevant regulations and incentives to be implemented that can increase the use of digital technologies, especially AI, in the public and private sectors, he said.

Mr Nuttapon said digital entrepreneurs expressed three significant concerns. The first is the delay in addressing the shortage of digital workers. The industry wants the government to launch measures aimed at attracting foreign digital employees to work in Thailand.

Respondents are also concerned about disruptions from advanced technologies or deep tech that Thailand does not currently own, such as GenAI, which is being developed by leading multinational corporations.

“Thais need to understand the country’s status,” he said.

“It is difficult to compete with global giants with lots of capital, but we can cooperate and compete.”

Thailand must accelerate investment in data centres and cloud innovation centres as they are important infrastructure, said Mr Nuttapon.

The country should also create data with higher value, especially in the agricultural, tourism, public health, financial and government service sectors, according to respondents.

Thailand needs to promote collaboration on AI-specific models before distributing them to the public, business and government sectors, said entrepreneurs.

The final concern is the industrial sector is emphasising environmentally friendly digital technology, also known as green digital technology.

Digital entrepreneurs want the government to support their entry into the green digital era to enable them to compete effectively in the future.