· Southeast Asia · Gradual lens
Southeast Asia
A major location for data center and manufacturing expansion. 11 countries, 702 million people and $4.3T of GDP in 2025, seen through the Gradual scenario.
The 2060 outlook
Southeast Asia is becoming a second major location for AI infrastructure. Malaysia’s Johor corridor is among the world’s fastest-growing data center clusters, providing additional capacity for Singapore and inference services for other markets. Singapore combines the region’s strongest institutions with a position between US and Chinese technology systems. Many countries in the region buy Chinese infrastructure while using US or Chinese models according to price and access. Continued access to both depends on the rivalry remaining commercial rather than exclusionary. Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines combine young workforces with construction momentum, while Thailand builds at scale despite rapid aging. Their export-manufacturing models are also exposed under Fast because factory automation competes with their labor-cost advantage. Myanmar is restricted by conflict and sanctions, and Timor-Leste has limited connectivity. The regional distribution could become as wide as Europe’s, with Singapore near the top and Myanmar near the bottom.
Where the region falls
Every country in the world on one growth axis, Southeast Asia’s in color with its GDP-weighted average marked, one row per scenario (post-AGI rates; for Modest, the peak). Hover a dot for the country; click to open it.
Factor profile
The region’s average score on the nine complements against the world average (1–5).
Strengths, gaps and levers
Relative to the world average, and weighted by how much the Gradual lens counts each factor.
Strongest: Demographics & Migration (3.9 vs 3.0) · Physical Build Speed (3.8 vs 3.0).
Weakest: Climate & Environmental Resilience (2.4 vs 3.0) · Language Inclusion (2.4 vs 3.0).
Fast-track grid interconnection and new generation (incl. nuclear, gas, renewables + storage).
Invest in digital skills and AI literacy across the workforce.
Strengthen access through chip-supplying blocs and trusted-partner frameworks.
These are the three factors, among those a government can move, where a higher regional score would lift the index most under Gradual, ranked by (5 − score) × weight. Catch-up headroom and language coverage are left out as structural. Test the effect for any country in the .
The countries
Ranked by growth under Gradual (click Modest, Gradual or Fast to rank by that scenario; for Modest, its 2035 peak), GDP in 2045 against the no-AI path, and the pre-AI trend. Click a column to re-sort, a country for its profile and brief.
| Country | Index · rank | Modest | Gradual ▾ | Fast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malaysia | 71.1#11 | 4.4% | 12.3% | 18.4% |
| Singapore | 71.2#9 | 3.9% | 12.2% | 20.9% |
| Vietnam | 64.6#31 | 6.5% | 10.8% | 14.4% |
| Philippines | 63.9#34 | 4.9% | 10.4% | 13.7% |
| Indonesia | 63.4#37 | 4.5% | 10.1% | 14.6% |
| Thailand | 59.5#51 | 2.2% | 7.8% | 12.5% |
| Laos | 50.6#94 | 4.5% | 6.9% | 6.3% |
| Cambodia | 46.5#122 | 5.5% | 6.5% | 5.5% |
| Brunei | 50.4#95 | 0.8% | 4.0% | 4.7% |
| Timor-Leste | 40.3#153 | 2.0% | 2.4% | 2.1% |
| Myanmar | 44.9#134 | 0.7% | 2.2% | 2.6% |
Southeast Asia to 2060, against the other regions
GDP per person under Gradual: Southeast Asia in color, the other ten regions in gray (hover to name them), and Southeast Asia’s no-AI path dashed. Log scale, so a constant growth rate is a straight line and the change at the AGI year is visible. Transitional paths, not steady-state forecasts: compare timing and gaps rather than the 2060 levels.
Southeast Asia among the regions
All eleven regions ranked by GDP-weighted growth from 2040 under Gradual, with the other two lenses as ticks. Click another region to open it.