The 2026 FTSE Playbook for Thai Technology & Telecom

For electronics and semiconductor manufacturers — the Deltas, Hanas and KCEs of the SET — the near-term battleground is electricity. Fabrication, assembly and test are energy-hungry, which makes Scope 2 the dominant operational line and renewable-electricity sourcing the most legible decarbonisation signal to a rater. But the larger mass of emissions is upstream, in Scope 3 Category 1 — the wafers, substrates, chemicals and components bought in. For most electronics companies this purchased-goods line is the biggest and least-controlled part of the inventory, and it is exactly where FTSE and IFRS S2 now expect disclosure, supplier engagement and a credible target.

For telcos and data-centre operators — AIS, True and the wave of Thai colocation and hyperscale builders — the judgment shifts to how efficiently electrons become connectivity and compute. Network energy per unit of data traffic and data-centre PUE become the headline efficiency metrics, read directly by investors. And for the device side, the decisive number is downstream: for semiconductors, roughly two-thirds of the lifetime footprint sits in the use phase, once devices are in customers' hands. Add e-waste and end-of-life recovery, and the profile is clear — electricity and PUE decide today's score; hardware and use-phase Scope 3 decide whether the target is credible.

The climate theme rewards evidence, not intent. Raters look first at renewable-electricity share and how it is procured: unbundled certificates score weaker than power-purchase agreements or RE100 membership, and RE100's tightened rules require the underlying assets to have been commissioned within the preceding fifteen years. This matters in Thailand, where the Utility Green Tariff splits into UGT1 — backed by old hydropower that no longer fully qualifies — and UGT2, drawn from new solar and wind that does. A Thai tech firm's renewable claim is only as strong as the vintage and instrument behind it. For data centres, PUE is the efficiency proxy: against a global average frozen at 1.54, a sub-1.3 fleet is a differentiator and silence reads as underperformance.

Beyond electricity, the score is built on the completeness of the value-chain picture. Market-based Scope 2 tells the rater whether renewable procurement is real; Scope 3 tells whether the company understands its full footprint — purchased goods for electronics makers, the use phase for device and equipment makers. The gold-standard signal is an SBTi-validated target, and the ICT sector has its own decarbonisation pathway with distinct trajectories for mobile networks, fixed networks and data centres. Where value-chain emissions exceed 40% of the total, a company is expected to set a Scope 3 target covering at least two-thirds of them — the test most hardware and telecom firms face. Add e-waste recovery and circular-design disclosure, and the highest scores go to firms that pair a clean electricity story with a validated, value-chain-wide target.