SOUTH-EAST ASIA (Vietnam News/ANN): South-East Asia’s digital economy is set to exceed US$300 billion by the end of this year after seeing strong growth over the past decade, according to a new report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company.
The three companies launched the 10th e-Conomy SEA report on November 11, and expanded its coverage from earlier reports to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar for the first time. It previously covered only Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Sapna Chadha, vice president for South-East Asia and South Asia frontier at Google, said that 10 years ago, the company projected the region’s digital economy would reach 200 billion USD by 2025. The region didn’t just meet but surpassed this goal three years ahead of schedule.
The report noted that revenue across the 10 countries is expected to reach 135 billion USD as profitability accelerates. The additional four countries accounted for about 2% of gross merchandise value and had been added to provide a more holistic view of the region’s evolving digital economy.
For the purposes of the report, gross merchandise value included sales in e-commerce, food delivery, transport, online travel, and online media, while revenue included those sectors as well as digital financial services.
E-commerce is the biggest segment, and sales are expected to reach US$185 billion this year, while revenue is projected to hit US$41 billion.
Online travel was the next biggest segment of South-East Asia’s growing gross merchandise value, with growth supported by high airfares and accommodation rates as well as the relaxation of visa schemes.
The report also found a cautious uptick in private funding in Southeast Asia, which grew around 15% from a year ago to around US$8 billion.
In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), Fock Wai Hoong, Temasek’s head for South-East Asia, said that over US$2 billion was invested in AI-related startups in the past year. He noted that while most AI companies are based in Singapore, AI is clearly spreading across the entire region.
As the leading regional AI hub, Singapore secured US$1.31 billion in private AI funding from the second half of 2024 to the first half of 2025. Over the same period, it received 55% of all AI investments into the 10 Southeast Asian countries included in the report. - Vietnam News/ANN
