In 2025, the Southeast Asian market is transitioning from a "cost haven" to a "value highland". The overseas expansion path of Chinese enterprises has evolved from simple manufacturing relocation to comprehensive industrial chain layout and in-depth cultural integration. In the three core sectors of the digital economy, new energy vehicles (NEVs), and consumer goods, policy dividends and market demand are creating a synergistic effect. Meanwhile, the depth of localized operations has become a decisive factor for success.

New Energy Vehicles: Industrial Chain Reconstruction, Chinese Brands Reshaping the Market Landscape

Chinese automakers are reshaping the Southeast Asian automotive industry ecosystem through a coordinated "complete vehicle + spare parts" model, completely breaking the long-standing monopoly of Japanese automakers. In the first quarter of 2025, sales of Chinese-branded NEVs in four major markets (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines) surged by 58% year-on-year, accounting for over 10% of total regional sales. Among them, BYD sold 6,380 units in Thailand in June, surpassing Honda for the first time to rank second in the market.

Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) has emerged as a strategic hub for Chinese automakers: NEV manufacturers such as BYD, Great Wall Motors, and GAC Aion have successively established presence there, while supporting component enterprises like CATL and Nobo Automotive have followed suit, forming a complete industrial chain covering "vehicles, batteries, and core components". Sunwoda’s lithium battery factory, with an investment of over $1 billion, is expected to start mass production within the year. As Southeast Asia’s first manufacturing base covering the entire process from battery cells to battery packs, it will completely address the core bottleneck of localized NEV production. The Indonesian market, by contrast, is characterized by "BEV (battery electric vehicle) dominance" – Chinese brands hold over 90% of the local BEV market share, benefiting from the country’s abundant nickel resources and NEV subsidy policies.

At the policy level, RCEP tariff reductions and national industrial incentives have created a superimposed effect. Thailand offers NEV enterprises a tax exemption period of up to 13 years, while Indonesia guides the localization of battery enterprises through raw material export controls. Chinese component manufacturers such as Ningbo Tuopu and Dengyun Co., Ltd. have established factories in Thailand to both avoid trade barriers and stay close to vehicle customers. Industry forecasts suggest that with the improvement of charging infrastructure, the penetration rate of NEVs in Southeast Asia will exceed 8% in 2025, a 3-percentage-point increase from the previous year.

Digital Economy: Mature Payment Infrastructure, Short Dramas and Private Domains as New Growth Drivers

The scale of Southeast Asia’s digital economy exceeded $300 billion in 2025. Driven by both the improvement of payment infrastructure and the upgrading of consumption habits, short drama overseas expansion and social private domains have become the most explosive niche areas.

Thailand’s digital foundation provides fertile ground for industry development: Under the "Thailand 4.0" strategy, the PromptPay payment network has covered 84 million accounts (118% of the total population). The national unified QR code payment system enables merchants to reach 85% of consumers and has achieved cross-border payment interconnection with 8 countries including Indonesia and Vietnam. This payment convenience has directly stimulated digital entertainment consumption – Chinese streaming platforms such as WeTV have gained a firm foothold here. It is expected that by 2028, Thailand’s streaming subscription users will exceed 20 million, accounting for one-third of the total population.

The overseas expansion of short dramas is undergoing an upgrade from "content export" to "localized production". After the rapid expansion of Chinese enterprises in 2023-2024, 2025 has become a critical period for market positioning. Companies like Shike Interactive have established filming bases overseas, launched the "FreeShort" platform with nearly 1,000 short dramas online, and identified Thailand as a key market – due to its strong payment capacity and high cultural acceptance. They plan to expand the drama library to 2,000-2,500 titles by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the WhatsApp private domain ecosystem has become the core of traffic operations, with a penetration rate of up to 90% in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Service providers like Wati use CTWA advertising technology to achieve direct conversion from "ad clicks to private domain conversations", significantly improving user retention rates for e-commerce and service enterprises.

Notably, payment risk management requires attention: Thailand has 30 million credit cards in circulation, but only about 10 million actual cardholders. Excessive card issuance has led to rising bad debt risks. Overseas enterprises should prioritize cooperation with local e-wallets such as TrueMoney Wallet and optimize the user experience for small-value, high-frequency scenarios like contactless payments.

Consumer Goods: Demographic Dividend Unleashed, Localized Operations Determining Market Depth

Nearly 70% of Southeast Asia’s 624 million population belongs to the millennial generation or younger. The large consumer base and the rise of the middle class have made localized industries such as food and beverages resilient investment targets. In 2024, the market size of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and dairy products in the six major Southeast Asian countries reached $48.3 billion, $39.3 billion, and $24.7 billion respectively. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2029 is expected to exceed 6% for all categories, with staple food products growing at a rate of 9.1%.

The market shows distinct stratification: Mature markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand focus on high-end demand, while fast-growing markets like Indonesia and Vietnam drive consumption upgrading. Remittances from overseas workers in the Philippines and Indonesia have become important pillars of consumption – in 2023, remittances to the Philippines reached $37.2 billion, directly driving demand growth for categories such as dairy products and processed foods. The Indonesian government’s free lunch program invested $7.5 billion in its first phase, covering 83 million people and further stimulating the basic food consumption market.

Chinese enterprises are shifting from "product export" to "local rooting". In the catering industry, enterprises need to accurately grasp Thailand’s "experiential consumption" characteristics: emphasizing service interaction, avoiding the end-of-month payment deduction slump, and launching promotions on the 1st, 16th (lottery days), and 25th-27th (paydays) of each month. Food production enterprises, leveraging RCEP tariff preferences, have established localized supply chains in Malaysia and Thailand to both reduce logistics costs and align with regional taste preferences. A CICC research report points out that brands with cross-regional operation capabilities and supply chain synergy advantages are better able to withstand global competition and cost fluctuations.

New Principles for Localization: From Policy Adaptation to Cultural Resonance

Overseas investment in Southeast Asia in 2025 has moved beyond the extensive phase of "copying domestic models" – in-depth localization has become a prerequisite for survival. At the policy level, enterprises need to monitor dynamic adjustments to Thailand’s EIA approval standards and Indonesia’s data localization storage requirements, and obtain customized support by engaging with local investment promotion agencies (such as Thailand’s BOI and Malaysia’s MIDA). For talent strategy, nearly half of Thailand’s 13 million digital practitioners are young people aged 25-34; enterprises can cultivate technical talents through university-enterprise cooperation and form local management teams to overcome cultural barriers.

At the marketing and operation level, "cultural integration" is more effective than advertising: participating in Thailand’s MICE events to quickly build business networks, leveraging local celebrity influence to boost brand visibility, and integrating Southeast Asian values into short drama content to achieve emotional resonance. Supply chain layout must follow the principle of "regional adaptation": precision manufacturing should prioritize the 50-kilometer supporting circle in Penang, Malaysia, while labor-intensive production can be located in Vietnam to control costs.

As Southeast Asia transitions from a manufacturing hub to a consumption and innovation center, the overseas expansion logic of Chinese enterprises is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Only by deeply integrating policy dividends, supply chain advantages, and local cultural genes can enterprises achieve sustainable development in this high-growth market.