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Amazon Web Services to Launch Infrastructure Region in Saudi Arabia 

The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as healthcare, education, gaming, and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the Kingdom. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as healthcare, education, gaming, and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the Kingdom. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Amazon Web Services to Launch Infrastructure Region in Saudi Arabia 

The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as healthcare, education, gaming, and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the Kingdom. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as healthcare, education, gaming, and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the Kingdom. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced on Monday that it will launch an AWS infrastructure Region in Saudi Arabia in 2026.

The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as healthcare, education, gaming, and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in the Kingdom, ensuring that customers who want to keep their content in-country can do so.

As part of its long-term commitment, AWS is planning to invest more than $5.3 billion (approx. 19.88 billion Saudi riyal) in Saudi Arabia, said a statement by Amazon.

“Today’s announcement supports Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation with the highest levels of security and resilience available on AWS cloud infrastructure, helping serve fast-growing demand for cloud services across the Middle East,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS.

“The new AWS Region will enable organizations to unlock the full potential of the cloud and build with AWS technologies like compute, storage, databases, analytics, and artificial intelligence, transforming the way businesses and institutions serve their customers,” he added.

“We look forward to helping Saudi Arabian institutions, startups, and enterprises deliver cloud-powered applications to accelerate growth, productivity, and innovation and spur job creation, skills training, and educational opportunities.”

Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Engineer Abdullah Alswaha said: “The partnership with AWS and their announcement of an AWS Region, backed by a $5.3 billion investment, ignites a new era of technological excellence and innovation for the Kingdom.”

“This cloud Region demonstrates a firm commitment to research, innovation, and empowering entrepreneurs to achieve prosperity for our region and the world,” he stressed.

To support the growth in cloud adoption across Saudi Arabia, AWS will continue to scale its training programs and help accelerate the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goal of empowering women to increase participation in the workforce.

To help support this goal, AWS is launching a new upskilling program, “AWS Saudi Arabia Women’s Skills Initiative,” in partnership with Skillsoft Global Knowledge.

AWS will train up to 4,000 women on AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials, at no charge, through classroom trainings with AWS-certified professionals. This initiative is designed to help women jumpstart a career in cloud computing.

In addition, AWS will continue to invest in upskilling students, local developers and technical professionals, nontechnical professionals, and the next generation of IT leaders in Saudi Arabia through offerings such as AWS Academy, AWS Educate, AWS re/Start, and AWS Skill Builder.

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Saudi Arabia Boosts Appeal as Foreign Investment Inflows Surge 44%

The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA) 
The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA) 
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Saudi Arabia Boosts Appeal as Foreign Investment Inflows Surge 44%

The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA) 
The Saudi capital, Riyadh (SPA) 

Saudi Arabia is advancing rapidly toward its Vision 2030 goals, recording a notable surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first quarter of this year. Inflows rose 44% year-on-year to SAR 22.2 billion ($6 billion), up from SAR 15.5 billion ($4 billion) in the same period of 2024. The growth comes amid government efforts to attract investors and position the Kingdom as a global economic hub.

Attracting more FDI is central to Vision 2030, which seeks to diversify the economy beyond oil, stimulate private sector growth, and create jobs. Saudi Arabia aims to draw $100 billion in FDI by 2030, expand spending on “giga-projects,” and develop sectors including tourism, sports, and entertainment.

According to data from the General Authority for Statistics, total inbound FDI reached about SAR 24 billion ($6.4 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 24% increase compared to the same quarter in 2024. However, it dipped 6% from the previous quarter’s SAR 25.6 billion ($6.8 billion).

Outbound FDI dropped sharply, totaling SAR 1.8 billion ($480 million) in Q1 2025, a 54% decrease from SAR 3.9 billion ($1 billion) in the prior-year period. Compared to the previous quarter, outbound flows rose slightly by 7%.

Since 2021, Riyadh has required international companies seeking government contracts to establish regional headquarters in the Kingdom. Authorities have also pledged to modernize investment regulations to improve the business environment.

According to the Vision 2030 annual report, FDI as a share of GDP hit its 2023 target, with inflows reaching SAR 96 billion ($25.6 billion), up 50% from 2022 (excluding the exceptional Aramco transaction). However, the indicator declined by 1.31 percentage points between 2021 and 2023 due to weaker net inflows in 2021 and 2022 as global investors faced liquidity pressures from rising interest rates.

Despite this, data shows steady progress toward sustainable growth. FDI is becoming more diverse, spreading across industries and regions rather than concentrating solely in oil or the eastern provinces. This trend reflects greater investor confidence and supports efforts to attract long-term capital.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia adopted a new methodology for calculating FDI statistics in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund to improve data quality and transparency. As a result, historical figures were updated, with 2020 set as the reference baseline.