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Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi has added $4.6 billion to his fortune this year, taking it to $16.4 billion, as demand for electricity turns power generation into one of the more dependable places to make money in 2026.
Gulf Development, the country's largest private power producer, is reviving plans for gas-fired projects in Vietnam that it had shelved, Sarath said in an interview on Monday.
"Vietnam has strong potential, with rapid economic growth driving rising electricity demand," he said at Gastech 2026, a liquefied natural gas industry gathering in Bangkok.
He did not give a size, cost or timeline for the renewed plans, and said Gulf may pursue further investment in the country.
The Vietnamese shortage
Gulf signed an agreement with the Vietnamese government in 2019 to study a 6,000 megawatt gas-fired plant and LNG terminal in Ninh Thuan province. It already runs three renewable projects there totalling 247 MW.
Vietnam is targeting at least 10 percent economic growth, which is straining a grid where factories, infrastructure and technology projects are lifting demand faster than generation and transmission can be added. Blackouts in 2023, when drought hit hydropower output, forced outages at northern factories.
Sarath met Vietnamese President To Lam in Bangkok in May alongside other business leaders.
Building for AI
Gulf has committed up to 140 billion baht, about $4.2 billion, through 2030, mostly in renewable energy, with roughly a tenth earmarked for digital businesses including cloud services and AI infrastructure.
Its first 25 MW data centre has been fully operational since June. Two more facilities requiring as much as 138 MW are under development. The company is targeting up to 2,000 MW of data centre capacity within five years, a figure eighty times what it currently operates, and has partnerships with Microsoft and Singtel plus an agreement with Alphabet's Google to explore opportunities.
Sarath said Gulf is also exploring further renewable investment in Europe, without giving details.
One vehicle, one fortune
Gulf Development was formed in 2025 by combining Sarath's interests across energy, telecommunications, ports and toll roads. It owns or operates power assets in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Laos and Vietnam.
That concentration is why his position on the wealth rankings tracks a single company. This year that has worked in his favour. Bernard Arnault has lost $65 billion over the same period as luxury demand weakened, and fell out of the top ten richest last week.
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