NEOM's OXAGON has announced a significant land lease agreement with Abdullah Hashim Industrial Gases & Equipment Co. Ltd (AHG). This collaboration involves a SAR600 million investment to establish an advanced industrial gases production and distribution facility in OXAGON’s Industrial Quarter. The project will unfold in phases, with the first phase set to begin construction in February 2026 and operations expected by late 2026.

Satellite photography has revealed the numerous settlements containing thousands of identical housing blocks that have been built for those working on NEOM in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. Taken from Google Maps, the satellite images show a series of large camps surrounded by desert that have been built alongside NEOM's major construction sites.

Experts have warned that Saudi Arabia's $8.8 trillion giga-project is on the brink of collapse. Saudi Arabia's massively expensive futuristic city project, NEOM, appears to be falling apart. A new Financial Times report, based on insider sources, paints a grim picture of chaos and failure at the heart of the ambitious scheme.

Saudi Arabia is preparing to redirect its USD 925 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), away from real estate-led megaprojects that have defined its development priorities over the past decade, a source familiar with the matter said.

Saudi Arabia has just unveiled the NEOM Sky Stadium, and the world is already looking up in awe. Suspended 350 metres (about 1,150 feet) above the desert floor, this arena is part of the sprawling THE LINE mega-city and carries a price tag of roughly $1 billion USD. Beyond its staggering scale, the stadium is a statement that embodies ambition, sport, architecture, and Saudi Arabia’s global vision.

Just 18 months ago, the Architects Journal posed the question: ‘Should you work in Saudi Arabia?’  It seemed that, aside from a clutch of firms who told us they were actively avoiding commissions in the kingdom, almost every major UK practice was either setting up an outpost there or was already knee deep in masterplanning a mega project.

Ambitious plans for a 100-mile-long megacity in Saudi Arabia – a key part of the kingdom’s $2 trillion redevelopment project – have been put on hold so they can be scaled back. THE LINE was meant to be one of the Arab country’s so-called giga projects, designed to diversify the economy away from oil through real estate as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan. Now, however, the Riyadh regime appears to have shifted priorities.

For years, the vision of the “smart city” has been sold on a promise of hyper-efficiency: a world of sensors, seamless traffic, and artificial intelligence-driven automation.  But as a wave of next-generation urban projects rises from the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa, a more profound question is emerging: What should a smart city actually do for its people?

Saudi Arabia is shifting its focus from its $500 billion NEOM project, the futuristic city announced in 2017, to AI-related technology. The change marks a shift away from massive construction projects toward faster-growing industries that offer quicker returns