Southeast Asia's Rising Stars: Where Tech Growth Is Heading

Southeast Asia's digital economy has beaten its own forecasts for a decade. Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia each offer a distinct opening for technology companies ready to grow.

Southeast Asia's digital economy was on track to pass $300 billion in gross merchandise value in 2025, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2025 report from Google, Temasek and Bain. Revenue was forecast to reach $135 billion, with both measures growing about 15% year over year.

Three markets stand out for technology companies planning their next move: Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Each offers a different kind of opportunity, and the world's largest technology firms are already building there.

A region that keeps outperforming expectations

The e-Conomy SEA report, released in November 2025, marked ten years of tracking the region. Over that decade, gross merchandise value grew 7.4 times and revenue grew 11.2 times. The region attracted $120 billion in private funding and added more than 200 million new internet users.

The 2025 total of more than $300 billion came in about 1.5 times higher than the forecast the same researchers made a decade earlier. Private funding rose about 15% year over year to roughly $8 billion. For a technology company, that is a market with real scale and a track record of beating its own projections.

Travel is adding fresh momentum. Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia all expanded visa-free or e-visa programs, which the report credits with double-digit growth in total arrivals in the first half of 2025. More visitors mean more demand for travel, booking tools, local services and digital content.

AI enthusiasm is a regional strength

Southeast Asians are embracing AI at a remarkable pace. The 2025 report found consumer interest in AI running at about three times the global average. Some 79% of workers said they have learned to use AI, and 43% use it both personally and professionally.

Investors have noticed. More than $2.3 billion went into over 680 AI startups in the twelve months covered by the report, accounting for more than 30% of private funding value in the first half of 2025. Indonesia and Malaysia both ranked in the global top 20 for interest in multimodal AI.

The infrastructure to support that demand is arriving quickly:

• More than 4,600 megawatts of new data center capacity is planned across the region.
• Regional capacity is projected to grow 180%, compared with 120% for the rest of Asia Pacific.
• Ecommerce alone was forecast at $185 billion in gross merchandise value for 2025.
• Online travel was forecast at $51 billion and food delivery at $23 billion.
• Online media reached an estimated $34 billion and ride-hailing transport $11.5 billion.

Vietnam: a fast-rising AI and engineering hub

Vietnam has become a priority for major AI companies. In December 2024, NVIDIA signed an agreement with the Vietnamese government to establish an AI research and development center and an AI data center in the country. The signing took place in Hanoi in the presence of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

At the same time, NVIDIA announced it had acquired VinBrain, a healthcare AI startup owned by the Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup. Earlier in 2024, Vietnamese technology firm FPT announced a planned $200 million AI factory built on NVIDIA chips and software. The e-Conomy SEA report also noted that investors expect funding to rise in Vietnam.

Indonesia: the region's largest consumer market

Indonesia combines a large, young and digitally active population with strong interest in new technologies. The e-Conomy SEA report highlighted growth in gaming users and placed Indonesia among the top 20 countries globally for interest in multimodal AI.

Global cloud leaders are investing to serve that demand. In April 2024, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced a $1.7 billion investment in cloud and AI services in Indonesia during a tour of the region. For software and AI companies, that growing local infrastructure makes it easier to deliver fast, reliable products to Indonesian customers.

Consumer categories such as gaming, e-commerce and online media are natural entry points. Companies that localize content, language and customer support for Indonesian users tend to build loyal audiences quickly in a market of this size.

Malaysia: a cloud and data center powerhouse

Malaysia has emerged as one of the region's most active destinations for digital infrastructure. In May 2024, Microsoft announced a $2.2 billion investment over four years in Malaysia, its single largest in the country. The plan includes new cloud and AI infrastructure, a national AI center of excellence with the Malaysian government and AI skilling opportunities for 200,000 people.

Weeks later, Google announced a $2 billion investment to build its first data center and Google Cloud region in Malaysia, in Selangor state. Google expected the investment to support 26,500 jobs and add $3.2 billion to Malaysia's economy by 2030. Malaysia also ranked in the global top 20 for multimodal AI interest, and investors expect funding there to rise.

Singapore: the regional launchpad

Many companies enter the region through Singapore before expanding into its larger neighbors. The e-Conomy SEA report put Singapore's 2025 digital economy at $29 billion in gross merchandise value, up 7% from 2024. Singapore also attracted $1.31 billion in private AI funding, the most among the region's six largest economies.

That concentration of capital and AI talent makes Singapore a natural place for a regional headquarters. From there, teams can serve customers in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia while building local presence in each market over time.

Thailand is gaining momentum too. In May 2024, Microsoft said it would build its first regional data center in Thailand, adding another option for companies that want cloud capacity close to customers across mainland Southeast Asia.

Charting your Southeast Asia entry

Southeast Asia rewards companies that treat it as several distinct markets rather than one. Vietnam offers engineering and AI research momentum. Indonesia offers consumer scale. Malaysia offers a fast-growing base of cloud and data center capacity. Many companies build a presence in one market and expand across the region from there.

The talent picture is encouraging as well. In 2024, Microsoft pledged AI training for 2.5 million people across Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam by 2025, a program designed to widen the pool of AI-ready professionals that new entrants can hire.

A practical way to begin:

1. Match your product to the market's strength: R&D and engineering in Vietnam, consumer apps in Indonesia, cloud-heavy services in Malaysia.
2. Build on the cloud regions and AI infrastructure that Microsoft, Google and NVIDIA are bringing online.
3. Design for AI from the start, since regional users are adopting it faster than the global average.
4. Use one well-chosen market as a regional anchor, then expand with local partners.

Southeast Asia has spent a decade beating its own forecasts. With AI adoption accelerating and new infrastructure arriving, the next chapter looks just as promising for technology companies ready to grow there.

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