Locally made robots and copper mining top 2025 Saudi agenda

Saudi Arabia has announced new programmes that will leverage artificial intelligence to enable the export of locally-made robots and enhance efficiencies in the mining sector, amid sustained inflows of foreign direct investment.

The Arab world's largest economy has attracted FDI worth 900 billion Saudi riyals ($240 billion), which has doubled since the launch of the Vision 2030 economic programme in 2016, the kingdom's Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih said at the PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh.

This has spurred investor confidence and boosted industries that are increasingly tapping into emerging technologies to expand their portfolio of products and services.

The kingdom is expected to commence robot exports in May, which are the first to be locally designed and manufactured in the kingdom, Amit Mehta, chief executive of Saudi tech conglomerate Alat, said at the event.

The move is aimed at “positioning the kingdom as a global leader in AI-driven industrial solutions”, he said.

Ma’aden, formally Saudi Arabian Mining, is set to enter copper mining alongside the continuing exploration of other minerals. Its chief executive, Robert Wilt, said AI will help the company “accelerate mineral exploration and extraction”.

The Riyadh-based company's local content in its operations has reached 57 per cent, while its supplier network has expanded by 75 per cent, he said.

Meanwhile, Riyadh Air, the kingdom's new start-up carrier scheduled to begin operations in 2025, will use AI to make ticket booking, payment and travel processing “more seamless”, chief executive Tony Douglas said.

The initiatives are part of a flurry of announcements in Riyadh this week – alongside the Leap technology conference – showcasing the progress Saudi Arabia has made in attracting investments and boosting its technology expertise.

This has led to a greater role for the private sector, which is “capitalising on opportunities and contributing to local supply chains in emerging sectors”, Mr Rumayyan said.

“Sustainable economic growth is achieved through a government-led approach focused on regulatory policy development and economic diversification, with the PIF as a central engine.”

The PIF is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, with more than $930 billion of assets under management. Its annualised returns since 2017 rose to 8.7 per cent in 2023, up from 8 per cent in 2022, the fund said in its annual report in August.

The fund has become a global economic model, with Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification increasing the share of non-oil activities to 52 per cent of gross domestic product, surpassing 4 trillion riyals, according to PIF data.

This has helped attract more overseas investors, with the number of foreign investor licences surging ten-fold to about 40,000 compared with 2019, in addition to the rise in companies setting up their regional headquarters in the kingdom, which now are at about 600.

In addition, the PIF's local content spending hit nearly 400 billion riyals between 2020 and 2023, driven by the Musahama programme for local content development.

Also at the event, the PIF-backed Riyadh-based financial services company ewpartners said it was the lead investor in a $48 million strategic investment in Valuable Capital Group, the Hong Kong-based capital markets company backed by China's Sina Group. The deal is aimed at driving the expansion of the FinTech sector and initial public offerings.

Separately on Thursday, the Riyadh-based National Company for Unified Procurement of Medicines, Devices and Medical Supplies signed 10 preliminary agreements at the forum, including three deals worth 2.5 billion riyals to expand “enhance the resilience of the healthcare supply chain”.

Those included deals with First Abu Dhabi Bank and Tameed worth 1 billion riyals each, and a 500 million riyal agreement with Banque Saudi Fransi.

On Wednesday, Ceer, Saudi Arabia's first electric vehicle manufacturer, signed 11 partnership agreements worth 5.5 billion riyals to help boost its operations.

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