Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 1 memory chip provider, is considering slowing the pace of expanding its production facilities next year amid negative forecasts about growth of the global semiconductor market.

At a biannual meeting on the tech titan’s global business strategies held last week, the device solutions division’s main agenda was how to cope with the expected oversupply of memory chips next year, as demand is widely forecast to go downhill, with the market facing a stall in the “super cycle” driven by an emerging data economy.

“Adjusting the pace of increasing production capacities for DRAM and NAND flash chips was discussed at the meeting presided over by Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam and heads of the chipmaker’s overseas branches,” an industry source said.

According to news reports, Samsung is planning to curtail its production of memory chips next year to bit growth of less than 20 percent for DRAM and 30 percent for NAND.

Samsung said during a conference call on its third-quarter earnings in November that its annual bit growth for DRAM is estimated to be around 20 percent and 40 percent for NAND.

Bit growth refers to the increased supply of memory chips in bit volume that helps estimate capacities of each chip provider.

With the lowered bit growth estimates, Samsung is expected to conservatively execute its investment plans for memory production, industry watchers say.

Its 30 trillion-won investment plan for construction of a second fabrication line for DRAM at its newest Pyeongtaek campus in Gyeonggi Province could be carried out more carefully than initially planned, as part of Samsung’s strategy to prevent falls in DRAM prices by limiting new growth in supply.

The second Pyeongtaek plant is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first half of next year.

Samsung is also expected to limit increasing its DRAM production on the second floor of the first fabrication line in Pyeongtaek, amid the oversupply outlook.

“Samsung was going to add 40,000 wafers to the Pyeongtaek DRAM line, but it is considering 20,000 to 30,000 for the first six months of 2019,” an industry official said.

The Korean chipmaker’s slashed forecasts for fourth-quarter earnings add woes to the negative outlook for 2019.

Local stock brokerages estimate Samsung’s fourth-quarter operating profit to slide to around 13 trillion won from the previous quarter’s record high of 17.57 trillion won, due to weak seasonality of the semiconductor industry at the end of the year.

US-based Micron Technology’s first-quarter earnings announcement for the fiscal year of 2019 that ended on Nov. 31 fueled worries about the upcoming downturn in the chip market.

The market’s third player, after Samsung and SK hynix, reported a 5 percent drop in its revenue quarter-on-quarter, and its CEO announced a cutback in production for the next year.

Market analysts project the memory chip industry to decline for the first six months of 2019 but expect a rebound in the latter half.

“Due to decreased demand for the period between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, memory prices — especially DRAM prices — are estimated to drop by around 15 percent,” said Lee Jae-yoon, an analyst at Yuanta Securities. “But since major chip suppliers are planning to cut back their spending, the oversupply situation is expected to improve in the second half of next year.”

E-commerce in 2019 is expected to flourish in Thailand as giant e-marketplace providers and huge social media platforms battle it out. Investors are expected to join the battlefield, laying their bids in front of payment and logistic players in e-commerce.

According to a study by Google and Temasek, 2018 was the year of e-commerce for Southeast Asia and Thailand could boast the fastest growth. The study, “e-Conomy SEA 2018: Southeast Asia’s Internet Economy Reaches an Inflection Point”, also found that e-commerce adoption had accelerated the most in Thailand, reaching nearly US$3 billion (Bt97 billion) this year after having tripled in two years – and the Kingdom was the second-largest e-commerce market in the region.

Thailand’s e-commerce is expected to grow at 30 per cent yearly from 2015 to 2025 to reach $13 billion (Bt421 billion). However, in 2018, Thailand’s e-commerce actually attained 49 per cent growth compared with 2015.

Experts confirm high and vigorous e-commerce growth for 2019. Giant

e-marketplace platforms including Lazada, Shopee, and JD will continue to heavily invest in taking marketshare, while giant social media platform including Facebook (and Instagram), Google, and Line will next year focus on e-commerce services.

Payment and logistics are the backbone of the sector’s growth. They will next year both see players taking a more aggressive stance to encourage e-commerce in this country. Thailand Post plans to launch a cash-on-delivery (COD) service to drive e-commerce next year, while Alibaba will operate a logistics hub in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

Thanawat Malabuppha, president of the Thai e-Commerce Association and chief executive officer of Priceza, predicts a more competitive market next year, with growth over 30 per cent above this year.

A dominant trend for the coming year will involve a shift from the current approach of social platforms to one that prominently includes e-commerce. All major platform players – including Google, Facebook, Instagram and Line – are about to aggressively enter the e-commerce battlefield. Google Shopping will be more active in Thailand, and Facebook Marketplace will be both more active and more aggressive. A lot more offline merchants will have an online presence on these platforms.

And many more people will be going online.

“Even bankers will be more aggressive on e-commerce, but the biggest impact to the market is the aggressive move of giant platform providers including Google, Facebook, and Line next year,” said Thanawat.

Even as search engines and social media platforms join the e-marketplace, the giant e-markets are crossing over into social media and searching. For example Lazada and Shopee started to host chat services to allow customers to chat with the merchant, with Lazada also allowing people to post to a news feed similar to that found on Facebook. In its most recent move, merchants can now to “live” on the Lazada app instead of on Facebook.

“Social media platforms like Facebook, Google, and Line have entered the e-commerce [ecosystem], while e-commerce platform like Shopee, Lazada, and JD have begun to offer several new social media services in order to be a part of users’ [lives]. These platforms both encourage and compete with each other,” said Thanawat.

Competition between Lazada, Shopee, and JD will be more intense next year. Within these e-marketplaces, merchants will also compete more. These e-marketplaces, offer at least 75 million items, with the varieties of products continuing to grow. Around 80 per cent of these products are made overseas, mostly in China. The presence of cross-border products will increase, and in the process destroy the competitive advantage of merchants who merely import products from China to sell online without adding any value.

The next trend is e-payment, Thanawat said, with cash on delivery (COD) accounting for the largest portion of e-commerce payment. COD can encourage people to dare to try out online shopping, and so can help recruit new online shoppers. On the other hand, COD is costly and inconvenient, as people need to wait to receive the product and make their payment.

“According to Bank of Thailand, the cot of handling a cash payment is around four to five times more expensive than for electronic payment. According to Amazon India, COD payment is three to five times more expensive than Amazon Pay,” said Thanawat.

All e-marketplace providers will try to drive people to their e-wallet to facilitate payment with electronic money. It is expected to see JD wallet next year. Lazada already has its wallet, Shopee has Alipay, and Line has Rabbit Line Pay. Next year, they will use subsidies to encourage people to shift to paying with e-wallet. The use of COD will decline, but for now remain the top choice for e-commerce payment in Thailand.

Omni-channel marketing will next year play a larger role in e-commerce. The omni-channel concept is to draw brands to every environment hosting large numbers of customers with the same seamless shopping experience As the platforms – Google, Line and Facebook – encourage e-commerce, many more brands will be drawn to the ecosystem, given the huge numbers of people hanging out there.

“Another driving factor is social media. E-commerce in Thailand is still growing at 30 per cent according to Google-Temasek. Social media is booming, Thais favour social media commerce. Thailand has the highest portion of social commerce than anywhere else in the world, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers,” said Thanawat.

The top three products categories for which people prefer to shop online are fashion, electronics and beauty.

Sustained expansion tipped

Pawoot Pongvitaya-panu, tarad.com founder and chief executive   and the former president of the  Thai e-Commerce Association, said  that

e-commerce in Thailand will continue to enjoy healthy growth next year. That’s because the big e-marketplace players will continue to invest heavily in e-commerce to capture marketshare, he explains, while the social media platforms continue to launch e-commerce services. “Next year, both the e-marketplace and social commerce will continue as the two main platforms for e-commerce in Thailand,” said Pawoot.

“Next year we will see more interesting e-commerce advertisements, especially from shopping searches like Google Shopping, which we have not seen a lot of this year in Thailand,” said Pawoot.

He added that Facebook will be more active in e-commerce, with both Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Group – as well as in logistics. Also, bankers will concentrate more on e-commerce as well, with more banks stepping into e-commerce. For example, Kasikornbank has launched KPlus Market.  “Line is another player that will make a big move into e-commerce next year .This year, Line acquired Sellsuki and is expected to do more,” said Pawoot.

Brands will focus more on e-commerce, getting involved in that market through both their own shopping websites and the e-marketplace.

Additionally, e-commerce in  2019 will continue its growth, due to the investment of payment and logistics players to facilitate people living in countryside to more easily shop for products online. Next year, a larger portion of e-commerce buyers will be spread out across the nation, with a sales split of about 44:56 between rural buyers and those in Bangkok.

However, because of aggressive moves in the big e-marketplace by Lazada, Shopee and JD, a lot more products from China are expected to flow through the Thai e-commerce market. The draft of the new Revenue Code will see tax investigations of people having above 3,000 online money transfers per year. The regulation could have an impact on e-commerce but is not expected to affect its growth.

People’s top three favourite product categories for online purchases are mobile and electronic products, fashion and beauty.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will play more role in e-commerce next year, and there will see a lot more use-cases.

“E-commerce will grow continuously and rapidly next year, building on the momentum from this year. All giant e-commerce players – Lazada, Shopee, and JD – heavily invested in e-commerce in Thailand this year and will next year,” said Pawoot. “One aggressive move is to leave commissions out. They also offer an open “mall” such as Lazada’s LazMall. Shopee opened ShopeeMall to compete withJD.com.”

Though these three giants hold most e-commerce in their hands, the other big slice of e-commerce – social commerce – is not yet dominated by a major player. Social commerce has become the long e-commerce tail in Thailand.

Paiboon Amonpinyokeat, of the National Cyber Security preparation committee and a cyber law expert, said that 2019 is expected to see active moves in cybersecurity, with the Cybersecurity Act expected to effect in 2019. This will encourage investments in cybersecurity and ventures by startups in Thailand.

“All cybersecurity bills are expected to be effective before the election, so it should be effective by February,” said Paiboon.

Cybersecurity in 2019 is expected to see much higher growth from 2018 since the new laws will encourage and compel organisations – both in the government and private sectors – to invest more in cybersecurity in order to ensure legal compliance.

The critical infrastructure will inject a lot more investment to make their system/infrastructure more secure and, by doing so, put them in legal compliance. Moreover, there will be more cybersecurity manpower and resource developments. According to the National Cyber Security Preparation Committee, the country is expected to have at least 5,000 cybersecurity workers in the next three to five years.

Under the Cybersecurity Act, apart from law enforcement, the provisions are part of efforts to encourage the critical infrastructure providers to invest and to devote more attention to cybersecurity. Another key act, the Digital ID Act, will also help leverage investment in cybersecurity in the country.

However, close monitoring is required on which draft of the Cybersecurity Act is picked by the commission to put for the NLA’s consideration, between the revised draft that the Cabinet has endorsed or the first draft that the Council of State has endorsed.

Two months were spent on the revised draft to make the adjustments of the earlier draft as a result of the participation of experts across the legal, technology and business domains.

It consists of three parts – business promotion, protection, and is not focused on “content”. The former draft is focused on content.

Prinya Hom-anek, the secretary of the Thailand Information Security Association (Tisa) and a cybersecurity expert, said that in 2019 all four digital Acts will officially take effect. The first two concern the leveraging of the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (Public Organisation) to become a national agency that operates and runs under its own Act; and the Electronic Transactions Act (2019).

As a result, electronic transactions will be tightened and have more costs to ensure regulatory compliance. This is to create more confidence in electronic transactions and will dramatically increase the number of electronic transactions in 2019.

The other two digital acts – the Cybersecurity Act and Personal Data Protection Act – are also expected to effect in early 2019. All four Acts are scheduled to be passed on to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) for consideration and are expected to take effect next year.

Prinya has also highlighted the 10 cybersecurity trends for Thailand in 2019.

The first concerns data privacy and the risk of more leaks from cloud networks.

After the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect, Google, Apple and Facebook have allowed their users to download their own data.

The move comes against the backdrop of concerns that if people lose their passwords, other people would be able to download all their personal data. This leads to the prospect of an increase in repetitional risk, especially for people who set passwords that are too easy, without two-factor authentication. Those users without strong passwords have a higher chance that their personal data will be leaked.

Also, people who are careless with their passwords have a greater risk of losing their personal data.

Therefore, the first trend of cybersecurity is to have two-factor authentication. At this level of security, users need a six-digit authentication code each time. Two-factor authentication will be the default next year and indeed will become mandatory.

The second trend is for regulations to be tightened.

The drafts of the Personal Data Protection Act and Cybersecurity Act are expected to be effective next year. They have already passed the Cabinet’s scrutiny and awaiting the consideration of NLA.

The critical infrastructure will be more concentrated on cybersecurity and they will invest a lot more in leveraging their cybersecurity standards. Meanwhile, privacy policies and disclaimers will become more stringent next year.

“Individuals must carefully and thoroughly read the privacy policies of service providers,” said Prinya.

The third trend is de-anonymisation, which is a reverse data mining technique that re-identifies encrypted information. Efforts here will be related to personally identifiable information (PII), which is the practice of collecting public and private personal data that can be used to identify an individual for legal and illegal applications.

The fourth trend is the full implementation of cyber resilience. It needs to have full life-cycle-incident management. It is not about asking “Are we secure?”, because there is no 100 per cent secure guarantee. The question should be: “Are we ready?” And once there is a hacking, how prepared will an organisation be in terms of incident response?

“All individuals need to help protect themselves and not leave cybersecurity matters to the online service providers only. Individual (mobile) Internet users need to change their mindset about security. They have to prepare how fast they respond rapidly; they should prepare for the worst scenario,” said Prinya.

The fifth trend is enterprises’ cybersecurity discipline. Enterprises need to have more cybersecurity discipline. Cybersecurity is just not about technology issues, but it is about people and process issues. The trend is people will focus a lot more on people and process, not only technologies.

“Cybersecurity is not only a technical issue, it is about process and people and top management leadership,” said Prinya.

The sixth trend is Internet of Things (IoT) security.

A lot more devices connected to the Internet are raising more concerns about cybersecurity. Most of connected devices have default passwords, especially the medical devices and industrial devices. Therefore, a trend for hackers is to attack IoT and OT (operational technology) in the critical infrastructure.

“Thus, it is consistent with the second trend that the regulations will see more tightening, especially on the critical infrastructure that are targets of an attack,” said Prinya.

The seventh trend is about artificial intelligence used for the dark side of the Internet.

Hackers also use AI in hacking. Rather than coding, hackers use AI and machine learning to detect a system’s weakness and to attack the victim.

Viruses will be empowered by AI and machine learning as well as learning the patterns in order to avoid the anti-virus detection.

The eighth trend is for more social media scandals.

Social media scandals will also include those concerning fake news and cyber bullying. Since social media is a circle of influence, it can be used to manipulate the masses.

It is about the attention economy. Social media scandals are related to the attention economy. People normally have only eight seconds of attention. Cybersecurity is not just only about hackers and viruses.

“The most dangerous hacker is yourself when using social media and online services carelessly,” said Prinya.

The ninth trend is for cybersecurity transformation.

The next year trend is about a shift from digital transformation to cybersecurity transformation. If cybersecurity and privacy are not good, trust will not be sustained.

Therefore digital transformation would not be a success. So, cybersecurity transformation (including privacy) is the foundation for digital transformation.

The 10th trend concerns the area from the data economy to the crypto-economic field.

Now, the country is moving towards the data economy, which is not crypto-economic. Crypto and blockchain are the future, but not at the moment.

It is to move from the data economy to the crypto-economic realm in the next couple of years We are not yet seeing real-world mass implementation. It is the future technology and its arrival will take time.

“It is a subject matter for expert groups and for internal study,” said Prinya.

Dell said in a press statement that the roadshow is designed to bring to life the high performance, innovation and functionality of Dell computing solutions through four different scenarios – Work, Entertain, Create and Game – that a typical person would encounter in their daily life, at work and at play.

The first – Work zone – will feature non-traditional work settings showcasing limitless working styles, anytime, anywhere.

The second zone – Entertain – will showcase the full cinematic experience, including studio sound and visual quality, possible on Dell PCs through Dell Cinema technology. Available on XPS and Inspiron PCs, Dell Cinema combines CinemaColor for true-to-life color imagery, CinemaSound that will dazzle you with true cinematic audio experience, and the state-of-the-art CinemaStream that enhances your online movie-binging experience, without interruption.

For the creative streak in you, Dell has you covered too. The Create zone will showcase the endless possibilities and inspired creations made possible with the right device and tools.

Not-to-be-missed by gamers of any level, from casual to hard core gamers, the Game zone will feature the latest Alienware and Dell G gaming laptops.

The Dell Experience Roadshow, held this weekend (22-23 December 2018) at Siam Square One shopping mall, LG Floor, will feature exciting games and activities with prizes to be won and much more.

The startup ecosystem in Thailand in 2018 turned in a good performance, growing at least 30 to 40 per cent from the previous year, and is expected to power through above 50 per cent growth in 2019 in terms of the total investment injected into startups.

Next year is expected to see several large series C fundraising deals among Thai startups that have already secured series B. Some have achieved “centaur” status, with valuations of at least US$100 million (Bt3.26 billion).

Ookbee, for example, will raise series C funding between the second and third quarters of 2019, while aCommerce, Pomelo and Omise are also on track to raise series C. Moreover, many small and medium-sized startups will exit to a higher level in 2019, giving potential for the year to be the tipping point for Thailand’s startup ecosystem.

Series A fund reassignment occurred in 2018, most notably the deal of Fastwork and Tourkrub.

The past year saw no exciting big series B deals, as the previous year saw a proliferation of startups reaching that level of investments. Eko, however, raised $20 million series B led by SMDV.

Eko’s platform, which is now used by hundreds of companies including leading groups such as Thanachart Bank and True Corporation, was built to solve a growing problem for businesses that rely on mobile-first, distributed non-desk based workforces.

Fastwork secured series A of $4.8 million from investors including China’s Gobi, Japan’s Line Corp, Partech Partners and Vickers Venture Partner.

Tourkrub also secured series A from Kingpower Click, Government Saving Bank’s SME Equity Trust #3, 500 TukTuks and the Thai entrepreneur owner of Tao Kae Noi, Itthipat Peeradechapan.

Krating Poonpol, a founder of the Disrupt Technology Venture top startup education and pre-accelerator programme in Southeast Asia, said that in 2019 there will be more small and medium-sized exits of startups that are mostly in series A. Next year, will see a lot more fundraising beyond series A, which is series B and series C.

“Investment in startups in Thailand this year continued to increase from 2017, but almost of them stayed at series A, so next year we will see a lot more beyond series A raising,” said Krating, who is also the managing partner of 500 TukTuks, a micro VC fund focused on Thailand and Southeast Asia.

However, he warned that talent and regulation are the two large factors potentially affecting the growth of the Thai startup ecosystem. In the current situation, he said, finding the talent needed by startups is harder than finding the venture capital.

Based on his experience of being involved in startup applications through 500 TukTuks and Disrupt Technology Venture, Krating ventures that the nation now has around 500 to 600 startups. Of particular note is that a lot of the interesting startup projects among small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are working on deep technologies and innovation. The challenge is how to help them grow to full-fledged startups.

Vertical startups are potentially experiencing a boom, especially those involving financial technology, property technology, food technology and education technology. The growth momentum will continue at a good pace in 2019, he said.

Under the 500 TukTuks portfolio, around 10 of its 57 companies are in series A, while the remainder are in the bridge round between series A and series B. Of the 57 companies, around a half will continue and have follow-on funding, he expects.

Thanawat Malabuppha, president of Thailand e-Commerce Association and founder of Priceza, predicts that 2019 will see startups getting backup from investors and corporates with series A and series B raising. The growth areas are in commerce and finance sectors.

Natavudh Pungcharoenpong, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ookbee and managing partner of 500 TukTuks, says local corporate venture capitals in Thailand were very actively investing in startups over the past year.

There were also several large deals between super-startups and large corporate such as Kasikorn Line Company, the joint venture company’s connection of Line and Kasikornbank (KBank).

In another example, Grab and KBank partnered to launch GrabPay by KBank, a co-branded mobile payment application and financial solution.

The partnership comes with a $50 million strategic investment from KBank in Grab, and is part of Grab’s ongoing fundraising round.

Sompoat Chansomboon, managing director of dtac Accelerate, said that the total investment in startups in Thailand for 2018 increased between 30 and 40 per cent from 2017. There were also many real use case executions of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). For example, Thai startup Bitkub Capital Group Holding, aims to be the next digital disrupter in the area of financial services, driven by blockchain technology and with the goal of being the leader in the blockchain ecosystem for Southeast Asia.

Technology will not only disrupt the banking industry, but go on to disrupt the stock exchange as a whole, predicts Sompoat, and blockchain will be the key disruptive technology.

The coming year will be distinguished by the acquisitions and partnerships between startups and large corporates, with the investment in startups in Thailand next year expected to grow above 50 per cent.

For its part, dtac Accelerate, will focus on helping series A startup to move to secure series B fundraising, he said.

“Around 10 to 20 per cent of our 46 teams have already secured series A, so we will help them to move to secure series B. Some 72 per cent of the startups from dtac Accelerate have secured vital follow-on funding. Elsewhere in Asian, the proportion is around 20 to 25 per cent,” said Sompoat.

The next trend is to see a lot more startup founders from SME, domain experts and women in the next year.

Oranuch Lerdsuwankij, founder of Techsauce, said moving Thai startups from series A to series B presents a big challenge due to the need to expand regionally. More will succeed next year, Oranuch predicts.

This year, a lot of B2C startups transformed to B2B startups. And the year saw strong growth in startups that provide solutions/ platforms/ services for businesses or corporates.

“Startups that have proprietary technology or exclusive data will have a competitive advantage over the others. There is room for startup founders who have ever worked for, or have connection with, the corporates. The room for, the room in the marketplace, is in corporate users and not in mass users,” said Oranuch.

Sellsuki is a social commerce management provider for online social sellers to manage chat and sales to buyers as well as inventory, tracking, and aftersales – all integrated in a single system.

Sellsuki was born in the age of social commerce. Its service is designed to meet the demands of today’s commerce, which is often conducted through various channels, and uniquely centred around social media and chat. It is how Sellsuki has developed expertise in working with LINE@, Line’s social commerce service.

Ariya Banomyong, managing director of Line Thailand, says that social commerce is an important driver of e-commerce growth in Thailand. According to a PWC study, social commerce takes up to 51 per cent of the total US$3.1 billion (Bt101 billion) e-commerce market.

Moreover, the number of social commerce consumers in Thailand is three times higher than the global average.

“This acquisition will establish a strong foundation for our e-commerce business in Thailand. We’re confident that this acquisition will lead to a new dimension of e-commerce services from Line,” said Ariya.

“This team of skilled developers understands the needs of the Thai e-commerce market, and they will be creating new services that will surely assist and cater to the demands of Thai users and sellers.”

The acquisition was on December 6, and Sellsuki’s social commerce staff members have joined Line Thailand’s team.

Lertad Supadhiloke, co-founder and former chief executive at Sellsuki, is now head of e-commerce at Line Thailand.

Sellsuki’s social commerce solutions were completely transferred to Line, while the original company continues to operate its other business services under new management.

Lertad Supadhiloke, head of e-commerce at Line Thailand, said his mission had always been to help businesses grow while staying close to their customers.

“The vision and attitude of a corporation like Line made this an easy decision, and I believe this is a big statement in support of e-commerce merchants and the startup ecosystem as a whole. We are excited to scale our mission at Line by creating new technologies and services to satisfy the needs of Thai people with no limits,” said Lertad.

KBTG is a technology company under the digital-banking leader KBank. It aims to be a technology leader, building a totally digital bank of the future, and in the process providing a better life for its customers, who would be able to live in the digital world without limitations.

The Nation nominated Krating as Thailand’s Businessman of The Year 2016. He also was nominated as a member of the “2017 class” of Asia 21, the Asia-Pacific’s foremost network of young leaders an hosted by Asia Society.

He is managing partner of 500 TukTuks, a micro VC fund focusing on Thailand and Southeast Asia. In three years, he has invested in 57 startups.

He is also a founder of Disrupt Technology Venture, described as the leading startup education and pre-accelerator programme in Southeast Asia, and which has graduated over 1,000 startup founders. In 2017 alone, Disrupt alumni raised over Bt250 million for their startups.

He also founded dtac Accelerate, among the best of its kind in Southeast Asia with a 70 per cent follow-on funding rate.

Krating was also the first Thai selected to participate in the Kauffman Fellow Programme – a prestigious honour for top venture capitalists who combined manage US$60 billion (Bt1.96 trillion) globally.

He is also adviser to the KBank chief executive officer, helping him navigate digital disruption and transformation. The $15 billion bank is the 2nd largest in Thailand.

Krating was previously the global lead product marketing manager of Google Earth, and was Google’s Asia Pacific regional lead of quantitative marketing and located at its HQ in Silicon Valley.

His resume also includes past work as a McKinsey consultant, the investment manager of a PE firm, and the market strategy and planning manager of Rejoice and H&S for P&G Thailand.

Krating graduated from Stanford Business School in 2007 and is a sought-after speaker at international conferences such as Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 hosted by former US president Barack Obama and the White House. He has spoke at MIT Asia Business Conference 2016, Guangzhou International Innovation Conference 2016, and the Singapore FinTech Festival.