We like to keep up with news and events in NEOM, Saudi Arabia and the surrounding area. Here are some of the news sites we read regularly.
On March 13, Hyundai Engineering & Construction announced that the contract for the tunnel project, which was awarded in June 2022 by Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Company, had been terminated. Hyundai Engineering & Construction stated that it received the official termination notice from NEOM Company the previous day. The primary reason cited for the termination was “a request for contract termination due to a reorganization of the client’s business,” according to the company.
In a major reset, Saudi Arabia is quietly shrinking its desert city of the future. NEOM and its signature linear city THE LINE are being redesigned as a much smaller project built around data centers instead of a 170 kilometer strip of housing.
In 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman introduced NEOM, a futuristic city designed to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil and diversify its economy. The heart of NEOM lies in “THE LINE,” a 170-kilometer-long linear city intended to house nine million people. This city promises to be a model of sustainability, featuring zero-emissions architecture, green spaces and renewable energy. NEOM’s vision is to establish Saudi Arabia as a global hub for business and innovation. However, despite its groundbreaking design, the project is not without its challenges.
Savvy Games Group and NEOM announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to streamline the journey of Saudi gaming startups from incubation to acceleration, aiming to strengthen the Kingdom’s end-to-end gaming ecosystem and advance the goals of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy under Saudi Vision 2030.
The KSA Internet Data Centers Market is valued at USD 2.1 billion, based on a five-year historical analysis. This growth is primarily driven by the increasing demand for cloud services, accelerated digital transformation initiatives under Vision 2030, and the rapid expansion of e-commerce and smart city projects such as NEOM and Smart Medina. The proliferation of internet connectivity, integration of AI and IoT technologies, and substantial government investments in digital infrastructure further fuel investments in data center capacity and modernization.
Electric power transformers to meet the needs of the Saudi city of NEOM are being produced in Brazil and exported to Saudi Arabia. The Arab country ordered 14 units from the Japanese company Hitachi Energy, which assigned the task to its factory in Guarulhos, São Paulo state. All equipment is scheduled for delivery by September, with operations expected next year. According to Hitachi Energy, the transformers are HVDC type and feature technology that allows for more compact and sustainable installations. HVDC stands for high-voltage direct current.
Saudi Arabia has announced a new $40 billion technology investment fund aimed at artificial intelligence, signaling what may be the most aggressive single bet any nation has placed on a post-oil future. The fund, created in partnership with US-based Andreessen Horowitz, will channel capital into AI infrastructure, semiconductor supply chains, and advanced computing over the coming years.
Apptunix , a global mobile and AI development firm, is expanding its enterprise digital capabilities to support organizations across Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom accelerates its Vision 2030 digital transformation initiatives. The company is increasingly recognized for its engineering expertise and Saudi-focused delivery approach, providing secure, scalable, and AI-driven applications tailored to local market needs.
NEOM, the sustainable region taking shape in north-west Saudi Arabia, has signed a landmark agreement with DataVolt, a Saudi-based international developer, investor and operator of datacentres, marking a significant step towards realising the Kingdom’s ambition to build a sustainable, data-driven economy.
Saudi Arabia's state-backed artificial intelligence firm Humain said Wednesday it had invested $3 billion in US billionaire Elon Musk's xAI. The investment made Humain a "significant minority shareholder", the company said in a statement. It added that its xAI holdings would be "converted into SpaceX shares" after the rocket company announced it was taking over the AI start-up earlier this month as Musk pushes to unify his many business interests.
The slump in Middle East work is hitting UK firms and, increasingly, their staff, who are now feeling the pain as practices make tough commercial decisions In late November Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) was informed that a ‘major’ resort it was working on had been cancelled. The scheme, which the AJ understands was in the Red Sea area, employed around half the Danish architecture firm’s UK workforce. Whatever its exact location, the unnamed project is one of the schemes, many of them in Saudi Arabia, impacted by spending reviews, delays and recalibrations.
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