Amata Corp.'s Smart City Vision Attracts Multinationals to Setup Factories in ASEAN

BANGKOK, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Amata Corp., a fast-growing Thai company that has built a network of strategically located, sustainably powered industrial parks in Thailand and Vietnam, has become the entry point of choice for foreign multinationals seeking to expand production into Southeast Asia, a region that boasts a $3.2 billion economy and more than 660 million consumers.

Long favored by Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and European companies, entrepreneur Vikrom Kromadit's eco-industrial parks now host businesses from 28 countries that employ over 350,000 people in more than 1,400 factories and commercial outlets, said an article on its website.

Amata City Chonburi, the group's largest estate where Vikrom's futuristic vision of a smart city is taking shape in lush green surroundings, features 805 industrial and commercial tenants, including a world class golf course and country club, shops, schools, banks, a hospital and a four-star hotel -- all located in the heart of Thailand's high tech Eastern Economic Corridor, barely one hour traveling time from downtown Bangkok and the city's main air and sea ports.

The presence of over 400 Japanese factories in this estate, one of the largest such concentrations anywhere in the world outside Japan, has led to a deal between Amata and Yokohama municipality to develop a "second Yokohama" smart city in Chonburi.

"From our point of view as a construction company with a track record of building a lot of factories in industrial parks both domestically and overseas, the Amata Smart City concept is definitely unique," Yoji Okumura, President of Japanese construction giant Fujita Corp., builder of the 220-room Hotel Nikko Amata City, is quoted as saying.

Started in 1989 with only six hectares of industrial land, Amata's developments now cover more than 100 square kilometers and have become hubs for Asian companies such as Jiangsu Runergy New Energy Technology Co., one of China's biggest solar cell manufacturers, South Korea's Posco Coated Steel (Thailand) and Taiwan region's leading rubber component manufacturer, Ge Mao Rubber Industrial Co.

Amata also hosts Western corporate giants such as BMW, Nestlé and Cardinal Health.

Amata provides a ready-made stepping-stone to neighboring countries. From its home base, the company in 1994 moved into fast-growing Vietnam. Amata has since expanded from the south near Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Long in the north, between Hanoi and China's border.

In 2022, Amata announced plans for two "Smart and Eco Cities" in Laos, where a new high speed rail connection to China and Thailand promises to unleash the landlocked country's economic potential.

Possibly the first Thai company to fully recognize the potential of recycled wastewater, Amata has built vast reservoirs inside its Thai industrial parks. Today it recycles 100 percent of all wastewater, reducing the demand for natural water by 40 percent.

Vikrom credits Amata's success to good service, good price and good quality: "We never stop our dream to improve, to serve our customers better. They can focus on production and sales. We do everything else."

SOURCE AMATA