Cite report
IEA (2026), Energy Technology Supply Chains in Southeast Asia, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-technology-supply-chains-in-southeast-asia, Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Energy technology supply chains in Southeast Asia today
Highlights
Southeast Asia has emerged as a sizeable manufacturing hub for clean energy technologies, with foreign investment playing an important role. China’s project-level investments in the region reached USD 10 billion in 2025, down from a 2023 peak of USD 31 billion. An earlier focus on solar PV investment has since shifted to batteries and electric vehicles (EVs). Indonesia is the largest recipient of cumulative investment over the 2015-2025 period.
Changes in trade and industrial policies in other regions, and overcapacity, are reversing the recent surge in Southeast Asia’s solar PV module exports. Despite remaining an important pillar of Southeast Asia’s clean energy manufacturing sector, module manufacturing capacity contracted from 106 GW in 2023 to around 82 GW in 2025 and is projected to decline to 72 GW by 2030. The sector’s high reliance on exports to the United States has left it exposed to changing trade policy.
A new growth story is starting to take shape in electric car manufacturing, backed by supportive policies and burgeoning domestic markets. Based on announced projects, manufacturing capacity is projected to nearly double from around 1 million vehicles in 2025 to 1.8 million by 2030. While facilities run by companies headquartered in China account for around half of current capacity – and over 70% of planned capacity – domestic players are emerging.
The battery manufacturing industry is also beginning to scale. Installed capacity amounted to around 40 GWh in 2025, while announced projects point to an expansion to more than 100 GWh by 2030. Still-nascent policy support and incentives, and reliance on imported technology, could present challenges.
Wind manufacturing capacity for towers stands slightly below 30 GW, representing nearly 20% of the installed capacity outside of China, with only incremental growth expected to 2030 – predominantly located in Viet Nam.
Southeast Asia is approaching production cost parity with China across several clean energy technologies, with less than a 1% cost difference for battery materials, 4-6% for EVs and wind towers, and 10-30% for battery cells and solar PV. EVs and battery cells offer the most promising export opportunities, especially for Malaysia and Thailand.