Amata Bets 200 Square Kilometers on Laos as Its Next Growth Market

Thai industrial park developer Amata Corporation holds roughly 700 square kilometers of land across Southeast Asia, and CEO Vikrom Kromadit says his boldest bet is now Laos—a market the company entered only in 2022 but expects to become its biggest.

"Laos will become our largest focus because of the land bank that they have," Kromadit told Fortune. "They also have lots of green energy—that's why they're called the battery of Southeast Asia."

Amata's first Laotian project, Amata City Namor, spans 31.5 square kilometers and sits beside a station on the China-Laos Railway. The company says its long-term vision for the country could reach 200 square kilometers.

Why is a Thai developer moving to a landlocked country?

Laos exports about 80% of its electricity to neighbors including Thailand, China and Singapore. Its rivers and mountainous terrain supported a government-led push to build hydroelectric dams as a core economic pillar. The country generates more than 12 GW of capacity from over 80 hydro plants.

"They have plenty of land and a lot of water," Kromadit says, calling it "the best natural conditions" for industrial development. The picture is not flawless: most cross-border transmission lines bypass local communities, leaving consumers with frequent blackouts.

China amplifies the appeal. In 2025, China invested $18 billion in Laos's economy, primarily in industry, mining and agriculture, according to the Vientiane Times. Laos has also been slotted into "China plus one" supply chains, where manufacturers relocate some or all production outside China to cut costs and avoid tariffs on Chinese-origin goods.

"China is the largest manufacturer of all products, so they can't just keep building only within their country," Kromadit explains. "They're also being hit by political pressure from the U.S."

How did Amata build its empire?

Kromadit graduated from National Taiwan University with a mechanical engineering degree and returned to Thailand in 1975 to found V&K Enterprise, an import-export business trading agricultural products, minerals and seafood. By the 1980s, he was frustrated with being "just a middleman."

"I wanted to make more money," Kromadit says. "When I was in the food business, even though I was the one who created all the channels and brought in business, once companies achieved success, they kicked me out."

In 1988, he co-founded the Bang Pakong Industrial Estate on Bangkok's eastern coast, then established Amata Corporation in 1989. Its first facility, Amata City Chon Buri, opened that same year. Amata built industrial parks across Thailand's Rayong and Chon Buri provinces.

What did Vietnam teach him?

After visiting Vietnam in 1990, Kromadit chose it as Amata's first overseas market, launching Amata City Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province in 1994—early in the country's reform program.

"I found that the Vietnamese were focused, capable and smart," he says. "I thought that Vietnam, in the future, would compete with Thailand for industrial investments."

That prediction has largely come true. Vietnam is now Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economy, posting 9.95% GDP growth in the third quarter. Hanoi aims for high-income status by 2045.

Is Amata more than factories?

Today the company hosts more than 1,500 factories across 12 locations in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. It positions its sites as full industrial cities with housing, schools, hospitals and shopping malls. The flagship Chon Buri campus includes the 38,000-square-meter Lotus Plus Mall, with a hypermarket, retail stores, banks, restaurants and an international cinema.

The facilities also run kindergartens, schools and technical training institutes. "We're now looking to build a university," Kromadit says.

Not every bet has paid off. Amata attempted a Myanmar expansion in 2019 with a facility in Yangon, but halted plans in early 2021 after the military coup and ensuing civil war.

Asked about moves into Indonesia or Cambodia, Kromadit says his existing land bank is enough: "The land that we have on hand is around 700 square kilometers. It's big enough to make me busy until I go to heaven."