Big Business vs Small Business by Industry in Thailand 2026
In short
Large companies make up just 0.70 percent of Thailand's 1,986,709 size-classified companies as of 7 July 2026. That rate more than triples in energy and utilities, where 2.44 percent of firms are large, about one in every 41 companies. Manufacturing follows at 2.05 percent. At the other end, other services counts large firms at just 0.08 percent, roughly one in 1,278, and education sits at 0.13 percent, about one in 772. Scale concentrates in a handful of capital-heavy sectors and stays almost invisible everywhere else.
Which industries skew toward large companies?
Across Thailand's 1,986,709 size-classified companies, 13,876 are large, just 0.70 percent of the total, DBD 2026. That rate more than triples in energy and utilities, section D of the registry, where large firms make up 2.44 percent of the sector, about one in every 41 companies. Manufacturing follows close behind at 2.05 percent large. Financial and insurance runs at 1.56 percent. Human health and social work and water supply, sewerage and waste management both clear the one percent line. Wholesale and retail trade, the country's biggest sector by headcount at 716,066 firms, sits almost exactly at the national average, 0.78 percent large. The picture flips hard at the bottom of the table. Other services counts large firms at just 0.08 percent, roughly one in 1,278. Education is barely better at 0.13 percent, about one in 772. Arts, entertainment and recreation and professional, scientific and technical services also stay under 0.20 percent large.
Large-company share by industry section
- Energy and utilities2
- Manufacturing2
- Financial and insurance2
- Human health and social work1
- Water supply, sewerage and waste1
- Wholesale and retail trade1
- Mining and quarrying1
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing1
- Transportation and storage1
- Information and communication0
- Accommodation and food service0
- Real estate0
- Administrative and support0
- Construction0
- Professional, scientific and technical0
- Arts, entertainment and recreation0
- Education0
- Other services0
Figures in percent of companies classified large.
Energy, manufacturing and finance sit well above the 0.70 percent national line. Other services and education barely register.
Company size mix by industry section
| Industry section | Large-company share | Micro-company share | Companies (size-classified) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy and utilities | 2.44% | 76.99% | 7,833 |
| Manufacturing | 2.05% | 68.75% | 230,396 |
| Financial and insurance | 1.56% | 80.51% | 35,577 |
| Human health and social work | 1.03% | 60.70% | 17,294 |
| Water supply, sewerage and waste | 1.02% | 67.85% | 4,818 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 0.78% | 74.01% | 716,066 |
| Mining and quarrying | 0.67% | 85.26% | 8,231 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 0.66% | 82.36% | 19,259 |
| Transportation and storage | 0.53% | 68.84% | 85,303 |
| Information and communication | 0.37% | 79.20% | 52,537 |
| Accommodation and food service | 0.31% | 72.49% | 83,608 |
| Real estate | 0.26% | 83.62% | 149,618 |
| Administrative and support | 0.24% | 74.31% | 100,711 |
| Construction | 0.20% | 78.07% | 283,564 |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 0.18% | 77.82% | 138,982 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 0.17% | 81.42% | 18,486 |
| Education | 0.13% | 81.62% | 13,897 |
| Other services | 0.08% | 80.53% | 20,455 |
Share of companies classified large and micro, plus total size-classified companies, per TSIC section, as of 7 Jul 2026. Sections O, T and U are excluded, each holds fewer than 40 size-classified companies.
Why the split runs this deep
Size band reflects the DBD's own classification of each company's latest filed financial statement, not industry glamour. Energy and utilities firms need power plants, pipelines and grid concessions before they can book a single baht of revenue, so a sector of only 7,833 companies still produces a large share of scale players. Manufacturing carries a similar physical burden: machinery, factories and inventory financing. Other services and education need almost none of that. A tutoring business or a laundry shop can open with a folding table and a hand painted sign. That is why those two sectors sit at the bottom of this table. In other services, 99.46 percent of companies are classified micro or small, and only 0.08 percent are large. Anyone building a size based lending product, a franchise strategy or a labor policy should read this table before assuming one national SME figure applies evenly across the economy. It does not.
Definitions
- Size band
- The DBD registry's classification of a company into micro, small, medium or large, based on its most recently filed financial statement.
- Large-company share
- The count of companies in the large size band divided by all size-classified companies in the same industry section, expressed as a percentage.
- Micro company
- The smallest size band in the registry, covering the great majority of Thai registered companies.
- Size-classified company
- A company that has been assigned a size band. Companies that have never filed a financial statement are not size-classified and are excluded from every share in this analysis.
- TSIC section
- One of the 21 lettered, ISIC-based industry sections the DBD uses to group its 5-digit TSIC industry codes.
Assumptions
- Size band reflects each company's most recent filed financial statement. Companies that never filed are not size-classified and are excluded from every denominator in this analysis.
- Sections O, T and U are excluded from the ranking because each has fewer than 40 size-classified companies, too small a sample to read as a stable rate.
- The DBD's four-tier size classification is not identical to the revenue and employee thresholds used by Thailand's Office of SME Promotion, so this large-company rate should not be read as directly comparable to OSMEP's MSME statistics.
Methodology
Large-company share is the count of companies in the count_large size band divided by all size-classified companies in the DBD registry for the same TSIC section, computed by rolling up the pre-aggregated 5-digit TSIC size bands to the 21 ISIC-based industry sections, as of 7 July 2026. Size band is the registry's own classification of each company's most recent filed financial statement into micro, small, medium or large. Sections O, public administration, T, households, and U, extraterritorial organizations, are excluded from the ranking because each holds fewer than 40 size-classified companies, too small a sample to read as a stable rate.
How we verified this
- National large-company share recomputed as 13,876 large companies divided by 1,986,709 size-classified companies equals 0.6984 percent, rounded to 0.70 percent.
- Energy and utilities large share recomputed as 191 divided by 7,833 equals 2.4385 percent, rounded to 2.44 percent. Dividing 2.4385 by 0.6984 gives 3.49, confirming the sector runs at about 3.5 times the national rate.
- Other services large share recomputed as 16 divided by 20,455 equals 0.0782 percent, the lowest of the 18 sections with a size-classified count above 1,000, and its micro plus small share recomputes to 99.46 percent.
- Summed count_large across all 21 TSIC sections, rolled up by section_code, equals 13,876, matching the national size-band total exactly, confirming no section was dropped or double counted.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and company size classification. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Asian Development Bank. (2023). 2023 ADB Asia SME monitor: Thailand. Asian Development Bank. https://data.adb.org/media/11916/download
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry has the highest share of large companies?
Energy and utilities, section D of the registry, where 2.44 percent of companies are classified large, against a national rate of 0.70 percent, as of 7 July 2026, DBD 2026.
Which industry is almost entirely micro and small businesses?
Other services, where only 0.08 percent of companies are large and 99.46 percent are micro or small. Education is close behind at 0.13 percent large.
What counts as a large company in this data?
The DBD registry's own size band, assigned from each company's most recently filed financial statement, split into micro, small, medium and large tiers.
How many large companies are there in Thailand overall?
13,876 companies are classified large out of 1,986,709 companies that carry a size band, as of 7 July 2026.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Big Business vs Small Business by Industry in Thailand 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/big-business-vs-small-business-by-industry-in-thailand-2026
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.