Thailand's 10 Border SEZ Provinces Compared, 2026
In short
Songkhla anchors Thailand's ten Special Economic Zone border provinces with 28,543 registered companies, as of 17 July 2026. Trat has just 3,331, the smallest of the group. That is an 8.57 times gap between provinces holding the same SEZ status. Together the ten provinces hold 89,654 companies, only 4.51 percent of Thailand's 1,989,709 registered firms. Their combined revenue of 1.53 trillion baht is a thinner 1.91 percent of the national total, proof that a shared policy label did not produce shared results.
How unevenly did the SEZ label land?
Thailand designated ten border provinces as Special Economic Zones between 2015 and 2016, betting that shared incentives would pull cross-border trade and investment into each one at a similar pace. The registry shows that bet did not pay off evenly. Songkhla, which borders Malaysia through the Sadao crossing, carries 28,543 registered companies as of 17 July 2026 (DBD, 2026). Trat, which borders Cambodia, carries just 3,331. That gap works out to 8.57 times more companies in Songkhla than in Trat, despite both provinces holding identical SEZ status since the policy's first phase. Chiang Rai and Kanchanaburi sit in the middle of the pack, each with more than 10,000 companies. Narathiwat, Mukdahan and Trat close out the bottom, each under 4,200. A decade of the same tax breaks and customs facilitation produced ten very different business bases.
Registered companies by SEZ border province
- Songkhla28,543
- Chiang Rai18,652
- Kanchanaburi10,010
- Tak6,239
- Nong Khai5,715
- Sa Kaeo4,861
- Nakhon Phanom4,673
- Narathiwat4,158
- Mukdahan3,472
- Trat3,331
Figures in registered companies.
Songkhla and Chiang Rai, both anchored by major land crossings and regional cities, hold more than half of all SEZ companies between them.
All ten SEZ provinces ranked by company count
| Province | Registered companies | Total revenue (billion baht) | Avg revenue per company (million baht) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Songkhla | 28,543 | 657.22 | 23.03 |
| Chiang Rai | 18,652 | 292.97 | 15.71 |
| Kanchanaburi | 10,010 | 161.12 | 16.10 |
| Tak | 6,239 | 129.42 | 20.74 |
| Nong Khai | 5,715 | 44.77 | 7.83 |
| Sa Kaeo | 4,861 | 79.94 | 16.45 |
| Nakhon Phanom | 4,673 | 47.12 | 10.08 |
| Narathiwat | 4,158 | 36.33 | 8.74 |
| Mukdahan | 3,472 | 57.77 | 16.64 |
| Trat | 3,331 | 26.14 | 7.85 |
Registered companies, total revenue and average revenue per company, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Company count and revenue do not always move together
Rank the same ten provinces by revenue instead of company count and the order shifts. Sa Kaeo, sixth by company count with 4,861 firms, moves up to fifth by revenue at 79.94 billion baht, ahead of both Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom. Nong Khai tells the opposite story. It has more registered companies than Sa Kaeo, 5,715 against 4,861, yet it generates less revenue, 44.77 billion baht against 79.94 billion. Tak shows the clearest mismatch of all. It ranks only fourth by company count with 6,239 firms, well behind Kanchanaburi's 10,010, but its average revenue per company of 20.74 million baht is the second highest in the group, trailing only Songkhla's 23.03 million. Nong Khai and Trat sit at the other extreme, each averaging under 8 million baht of revenue per company. A province can accumulate registrations without accumulating comparable economic weight, and Tak's border crossing at Mae Sot appears to concentrate revenue into fewer, larger firms rather than spreading it across many small ones.
Definitions
- Special Economic Zone
- A border province given tax and customs incentives by the Thai government to attract cross-border trade and investment, first designated in 2015 and 2016.
- Registered companies
- The total count of juristic entities on file with the Department of Business Development in a province, regardless of whether they are currently active.
- Aggregate revenue
- The sum of reported revenue across all companies in a province that filed a financial statement, not an average of individual company revenues.
- Average revenue per company
- A province's total revenue divided by its total registered company count, showing how much economic activity sits behind each registration on average.
Assumptions
- Company counts include dormant and inactive entities alongside active ones, since the province table does not split status.
- Average revenue per company divides by the full registered base, not only companies that filed a financial statement, so it understates true per-filer revenue.
- Provincial boundaries follow standard DBD provincial codes and do not separate SEZ-designated districts from the rest of each province.
Methodology
Figures are drawn from the DBD registry aggregate table for Thai provinces as of 17 July 2026. The ten provinces are Thailand's officially designated border Special Economic Zones, launched in two phases starting in 2015: Tak, Mukdahan, Sa Kaeo, Trat and Songkhla in the first phase, then Nong Khai, Narathiwat, Chiang Rai, Nakhon Phanom and Kanchanaburi in the second. Company counts are total registered entities per province regardless of active or dormant status. Revenue is aggregate reported revenue from filed financial statements, summed per province. Average revenue per company divides each province's total revenue by its total registered company count, so it reflects the whole registered base, not only firms that filed a statement.
How we verified this
- Summed the ten province entity counts, 28543 plus 18652 plus 10010 plus 6239 plus 5715 plus 4861 plus 4673 plus 4158 plus 3472 plus 3331, equals 89654 total SEZ companies.
- Divided 89654 by the national total of 1989709 registered companies to get 4.51 percent, matching the stated SEZ share of national companies.
- Summed the ten province revenues to 1532795313611.96 baht and divided by the national total of 80146498562463.62 baht to get 1.91 percent, matching the stated SEZ share of national revenue.
- Divided Songkhla's 28543 companies by Trat's 3331 companies to get 8.57, matching the stated ratio.
- Divided each province's total revenue by its own company count to get average revenue per company, then confirmed Songkhla at 23.03 million baht is the highest and Nong Khai at 7.83 million baht is the lowest in the group.
- Re-sorted the ten provinces by revenue instead of company count and confirmed Sa Kaeo, Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom each outrank Nong Khai on revenue despite Nong Khai having more registered companies than Sa Kaeo.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by province. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Board of Investment of Thailand. (2026). Special Economic Zone policy and provinces. https://www.boi.go.th/un/SEZ_policy
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai border SEZ province has the most registered companies?
Songkhla, with 28,543 registered companies as of 17 July 2026, the most of any of the ten SEZ border provinces.
Which SEZ border province has the fewest companies?
Trat, with 3,331 registered companies, the smallest of the ten despite holding the same SEZ status as Songkhla since 2015.
Do the SEZ provinces account for a large share of Thailand's economy?
No. Together the ten provinces hold 4.51 percent of Thailand's registered companies and just 1.91 percent of its total reported revenue.
Does a higher company count always mean higher revenue in these provinces?
No. Nong Khai has more registered companies than Sa Kaeo and Mukdahan but generates less total revenue than either, showing company count and revenue rank do not always align.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thailand's 10 Border SEZ Provinces Compared, 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thailands-special-economic-zone-provinces-2026
Data & corrections
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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.