The US was ASEAN’s largest FDI source in 2024 at $42bn — about a fifth of inflows. Singapore dominates inflows as a hub (~63.5%).
Treat Singapore’s share as hub routing, not a US→SG path we can see at this vintage. Never mix BoP with registered/approved totals — Vietnam and Malaysia especially.
What the comparison shows
AIR Table 1.3 locks US inflows at US$42bn / 18.6% in 2024. This revises the earlier portal summary; it does not trace a US-to-Singapore path. The concentration of reported inflows in Singapore makes the regional investment story partly a story about financial intermediation. The location receiving a balance-of-payments flow need not be the final location of a factory, workforce or customer base. Likewise, a reported source economy does not necessarily identify the ultimate owner of the capital.
The United States supplied 18.6% of ASEAN inflows in 2024, or US$42 billion, according to the AIR 2025 Table 1.3 (snapshot 2026-09-15). Separately, Singapore recorded US$143.377 billion in 2024, roughly 63% of the regional total in the supplied ASEANstats baseline (snapshot 2026-09-06). AIR 2025 revises the earlier portal summary. These aggregate observations do not trace US investment through Singapore to its final destination.
Key findings from this pack
- Start with the ASEAN aggregate, then select a recipient and year.
- BoP flows, registrations, approvals and applications measure different concepts.
- Singapore’s hub role does not establish the ultimate destination of investment.
- Missing source amounts stay missing; regional categories can overlap.
The evidence: Philippines and peers
Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Values retain their individual years; missing observations are shown as —. Only balance-of-payments totals are compared here; source-country breakdowns use different reporting bases.
| Indicator / unit | Philippines | Malaysia | Thailand | Vietnam | Indonesia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total BoP FDI inflowsUS$ billion | 8.932024 | 11.4262024 | 10.582024 | 20.172024 | 24.2122024 |
How to interpret the findings
The evidence table uses country BoP totals only. Registered, approved and application-based investment figures are different concepts and remain in the source-map topic with their reporting bases attached. Source groups can overlap; adding them together or treating approvals as realised inflows would misstate the comparison.
Coverage and context
BoP totals and national registered/approved/application flows are different concepts. Source groups may overlap. Source breakdown is missing for this recipient. Totals download: /data/fdi_flows/recipient_totals.csv
BoP totals and national registered/approved/application flows are different concepts. Source groups may overlap. Totals download: /data/fdi_flows/recipient_totals.csv
The table is a comparison of observations, not a combined ranking. The topic guide includes the wider SEA-11 coverage, interactive charts and full methodology.
Open foreign direct investment →All sources and observation years
S1 · ASEANstats ASH2025 (seeded asia-knowledge Indicators); TLS UNCTAD WIR 2025 · year 2024 · as_of 2026-09-06
Cite this page
ASEAN in Data (2026). The US was ASEAN’s largest FDI source in 2024 at $42bn — about a fifth of inflows. Singapore dominates inflows as a hub (~63.5%). /insights/fdi-source-map