Saudi Arabia's tech industry looks to be an increasingly prominent player in the world as its recently concluded Leap Tech Conference inked roughly $10 Billion worth of deals, as reported by the New York Times.
Over 200,000 individuals attended the conference, among them Adam Selipsky, the CEO of Amazon's cloud computing division.
Selipsky declared a $5.3 billion investment in Saudi Arabia for artificial intelligence technology and data centers. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, quoting a government minister, mentioned a "lifetime friendship" with the kingdom.
Representatives of Huawei and several other companies were speaking. Saudi Arabia's national press agency claims that more than $10 billion worth of transactions took place there.
(Photo: JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images) A woman uses a smartphone during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 28, 2024. The world's biggest mobile phone fair throws open its doors in Barcelona, with the sector looking to artificial intelligence to try and reverse declining sales
This year, Saudi Arabia established a $100 billion fund to invest in AI and more technologies. It is negotiating to invest an extra $40 billion in artificial intelligence with investors, including Silicon Valley venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz.
The $40 billion objective would reportedly be significantly greater than the typical amounts raised by American venture capital firms; SoftBank, a Japanese conglomerate that has long claimed the title of being the world's largest investor in start-ups, is the only entity that could match it.
According to reports, Wall Street banks are helping to construct the Saudi tech fund. The global AI frenzy has increased the prices of public and private companies as hopeful investors look to find or develop the next NVIDIA or OpenAI.
For instance, in less than a year, the start-up Anthropic raised about $7 billion in funding, which is virtually unheard of in the venture capital sector.
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Saudi Arabia's Tech Dominance Push
In March, the government said it would invest $1 billion in a start-up accelerator modeled after Silicon Valley to entice AI businesses.
The projects outweigh the most significant nation-state investments, such as the United Kingdom's $100 million commitment to the Alan Turing Institute.
Saudi Arabia is racing to invest $200 million a year in soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo to diversify its oil-rich economy. It is planning to build a 100-mile-long mirrored skyscraper in the desert.
This spending spree is part of a generational effort that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman outlined in 2016 and dubbed "Vision 2030."
Saudi Arabia has historically served as a financial source for the IT sector. International businesses must create a presence in the kingdom if they wish to receive its money, as it is currently repurposing its oil wealth to develop a homegrown IT sector.
Tech Investments in the Middle East
Unprecedented investments in the Middle East region continue, most notably the recent announcement of a billion-dollar esports island investment in Abu Dhabi.
Situated to emerge as a leading esports center, Abu Dhabi establishes a noteworthy collaboration with a global gaming operator for an innovative megaproject.
Amidst the growing global interest in esports, sources stated that True Gamers revealed intentions to build an island dedicated to gaming in Abu Dhabi.
In their official statement, the firm stated that True Gamers expects the project's total value to be over $1 billion shortly, with an initial expenditure of more than $280 million.
The project is planned to be a multi-phase project involving two tall buildings. While the other tower will be a vacation hotel, the first will function as a digital technology and innovation workspace.
The gaming island will have a state-of-the-art arena for large-scale events and a top-notch training center for professional teams and gamers.
It will also include facilities specifically designed for content development, serving game developers and influencers.
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(Photo: Tech Times)
