عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Aramco Announces Strategic Partnership with Zoom, Increase in Funding for Wa’ed Ventures

Aramco President and CEO, Amin Nasser, addresses the second edition of LEAP in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)
Aramco President and CEO, Amin Nasser, addresses the second edition of LEAP in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)
TT
TT

Aramco Announces Strategic Partnership with Zoom, Increase in Funding for Wa’ed Ventures

Aramco President and CEO, Amin Nasser, addresses the second edition of LEAP in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)
Aramco President and CEO, Amin Nasser, addresses the second edition of LEAP in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Aramco)

Saudi Aramco announced on Monday a strategic partnership with Zoom and an increase in funding for Wa’ed Ventures. The announcements were made at the second edition of LEAP, a major international technology conference held annually in Saudi Arabia.

The strategic partnership with Aramco aims to build Zoom’s first global data center in the Kingdom, to support the digital transformation ecosystem. The data center is expected to connect to the Zoom global data center network and will serve Saudi Arabia and the region.

With Aramco, Zoom will also explore the joint development of innovative technology solutions for the energy sector. The partnership aims to contribute to the digital transformation of various market sectors, such as energy, industry, education and healthcare.

Aramco also announced additional funds had been allocated by the company to Wa’ed Ventures, increasing the size of its Kingdom-focused venture capital arm from $200m to $500m. The increase aims to enable the company to deliver an accelerated investment performance regionally and globally.

Wa’ed Ventures aims to localize global frontier technologies to advance the Kingdom’s innovation ecosystem; expand investments in mid and growth-stage startups; and fund underserved domains such as environmental, social and governance, the metaverse and quantum computing.

Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said: “Our establishment of a diversified network of partners has helped us maintain a track record of reliability, and our new strategic partnership with Zoom is expected to further enable innovative solutions focusing on the digital transformation ecosystem.”

“Furthermore, with an expanded fund size, Wa’ed Ventures aims to facilitate the cross-pollination of innovation between the global and local markets.”

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

Gold Hits Record High

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
TT
TT

Gold Hits Record High

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

Gold prices charged to an all-time high on Thursday as expectations of more US Federal Reserve rate cuts and uncertainty over the US presidential election boosted demand for bullion, while traders awaited US economic data.
Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,678.13 per ounce by 0934 GMT, after hitting a record high of $2,685.60, Reuters reported.
US gold futures gained 0.1% to $2,693.60.
"With the US election less than three weeks away, market caution is likely to remain a key theme. Given the tight race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, this adds another layer of uncertainty – stimulating demand for safe haven assets," said FXTM senior research analyst Lukman Otunuga.
Gold has added over 30% so far this year, with a record-breaking rally driven by expectations that the Fed will further cut rates this year after a jumbo reduction last month and on the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties.
The European Central Bank is also expected to make its first back-to-back rate cut in 13 years later in the day.
Lower interest rates and geopolitical tensions tend to boost bullion, which is considered a safe asset and yields no interest.
"The LBMA poll that came out from Miami earlier in the week, where the base look for gold prices was to rally near $3,000 in the next year and silver doing even better, I think that potential is also just attracting a bit of attention," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.
The price of gold is expected to rise to $2,941, a troy ounce over the next 12 months from the current $2,661, delegates to the London Bullion Market Association's annual gathering predicted earlier this week.
Traders are on the lookout for the US retail sales and industrial production data for September and weekly jobless claims data due later in the day.
"A set of disappointing US data may fuel bets around Fed rate cuts," Otunuga added.
Elsewhere, spot silver fell 0.3% to $31.57 per ounce. Platinum rose 0.6% to $999.20 and palladium fell 0.4% to $1,019.56.