Back in 2017, Saudi Arabia announced something that sounded almost too big to be real, an entire new region along the Red Sea coast, bigger than Belgium, built from scratch around clean energy, zero cars and a completely new way of living. Called NEOM, the project's most famous piece was THE LINE, a car free city meant to stretch 170 kilometres through the desert inside two mirrored towers, housing up to nine million people who would never need a road, a car or a single tailpipe.

Nearly a decade later, the story has taken a very different turn. Costs spiralled, timelines slipped, and by late 2025 construction on THE LINE had actually been suspended, forcing Saudi Arabia to rethink just how much of this eco region can realistically be built. NEOM's unfinished mirrors now reflect something more instructive than the future they promised, a candid lesson in how ambition meets the slower, stubborn arithmetic of reality.

The NEOM mega­city project is pla­cing a massive invest­ment on AI infra­struc­ture, along with part­ner­ship with major local data cen­ter developer Data­Volt, NEOM is devel­op­ing a 1.5-gigawatt net-zero AI com­put­ing cam­pus at its indus­trial hub, OXAGON, backed by an ini­tial $5 bil­lion invest­ment for the first phase of con­struc­tion. The project is expec­ted to begin oper­a­tions in 2028 and could ulti­mately become one of the world’s largest AI-focused data cen­ter com­plexes align­ing with the King­dom’s vis­ion for a sus­tain­able eco­nomy.

Diriyah Company has awarded the main construction works contract for Heroes’ Park to Saudi Arabian Trading & Construction Company (Satco), marking another milestone in the delivery of the wider Diriyah development. The contract is valued at SAR393 million ($105 million) and covers the construction of the large-scale public park within the Diriyah Two development.

The National Grain Supply Company (SABIL), in cooperation with NEOM, completed the discharge of its first wheat vessel at Port of NEOM on the Red Sea, carrying 66,000 tonnes of wheat. SABIL said the milestone, announced July 5, reflects the company’s strategy to diversify logistics gateways and enhance supply chain efficiency, increasing operational flexibility and expanding access to target markets and regions.

Saudi Arabian power and water desalination company ACWA Power said today it has secured government approval granting it exclusive right to export green hydrogen and its derivatives produced in Saudi Arabia to international markets.

Saudi Arabia is widening its project pipeline across hospitality, housing, healthcare and commercial developments after delivering more than $1.6bn (AED5.9bn) of work across The Red Sea, NEOM and AMAALA in 2025.

Saudi Arabia has permanently suspended TROJENA — the ski resort in the mountains of Tabuk that was to be the centerpiece of the NEOM megaproject and host the 2029 Asian Winter Games — in a decision that reveals the size of the gap between the mega-ambitions of Vision 2030 and the budgetary, technical, and physical reality of building a ski resort in the middle of the Arabian desert at forty-four degrees north latitude.

NEOM could spend around SAR60bn, or $16bn, on payments to contractors for terminating long-term agreements between 2026 and 2030, according to the report by Arabian Business.  The anticipated payments are linked to contractual penalty clauses and represent the latest indication of a significant reset at one of Saudi Arabia’s largest development programmes.

NEOM has said that it is set set to draw global investments in Saudi Arabia as it continues to drive the diversification of the Kingdom’s economy and build a knowledge-based economy.