Thailand - Optics Manufacturing Hub
Half of Lumentum's workforce is in Thailand, Temasek investing in Innolight, AIXA, Seikoh Giken, Eoptolink, and Enplas Corporation
Dear readers,
Did you know that Lumentum currently has half its workforce in Thailand? Thailand is also the birthplace of Fabrinet, a top 10 employer in the country.
You can’t be an investor in photonics and not follow what is happening in Thailand.
The efficiency and stability of the Thai Lumentum facility directly impacts the firm’s global performance. That is why we are adding the Thai photonics industry to our coverage next year:
Japanese DC value chain, specifically the high-end semicon fab ecosystem and potentially nuclear restarts.
Malaysian data centers, particularly those in Johor.
Kulim tech park - what is happening with the AT&S fabs and will they add customers beyond AMD?
Penang, host to Intel, Lam, AMD, and many more.
Thailand’s photonics industry.
If that sounds interesting to you, lock in your annual subscription before 2026. We are at 156 paid subscribers and we will consider a rate increase at 180 subs.
We discuss WHA Corporation, Lumentum, Aixtron, Seikoh Giken, Innolight, Eoptolink, and Enplas Corporation below.
WHA Corporation
In October, we travelled to Bangkok to learn more about the industrial park company WHA Corporation.
WHA is seen as a major player in the Thai data center ecosystem, and a good source of leads when we follow the eventual move of data centers north from Malaysia and Singapore.
We learned that Thai automotive manufacturing is under pressure. The Thais principally serve the Japanese car market, who are being outcompeted by Chinese EVs. EVs also do not require as many parts as traditional cars.
We should have realised that this foreshadowed the poor results from NHK Spring, which has a sizable Japanese car business. It was the first major “loser” of this newsletter but has since recovered.
What lessons did we learn? I think we are right to continue doing things that have no obvious immediate economic benefit to us, such as learning about the Thai car industry. We just need to sit still for a while and draw connections to all the other information we have.
WHA’s founder, a female business leader in a patriachal society, is highly regarded and I get the sense that WHA is a core part of many local investors’ portfolios. You can read more in this Forbes article.
WHA Corporation’s parks happen to host many of the companies below.
Lumentum
Nikkei Asia article from 10 October 2025: