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Saudi Arabia Advances Vision 2030 with Manufacturing, Localization, Economic Growth

Saudi Arabia Advances Vision 2030 with Manufacturing, Localization, Economic Growth
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Saudi Arabia Advances Vision 2030 with Manufacturing, Localization, Economic Growth

Saudi Arabia Advances Vision 2030 with Manufacturing, Localization, Economic Growth

As Saudi Arabia celebrated its 95th National Day on Tuesday, the Kingdom is showcasing rapid economic reforms designed to cement its role as a global business hub.

Powered by its Vision 2030 diversification strategy, Riyadh has rolled out regulatory reforms, investment incentives and talent programs that are attracting multinational firms. International companies are expanding amid localization and manufacturing projects, while new visa categories are luring foreign expertise to support ambitions to turn the Kingdom into a regional hub for technology, innovation and sustainability.

Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy is forecast to grow 4.3% in 2025, supported by strong domestic demand and credit growth, Jadwa Investment said.

Technology hub

Digital infrastructure, flexible regulations and research incentives have made the kingdom a magnet for global technology players.

Chinese PC maker Lenovo said Saudi Arabia had established itself as a global hub combining technology, innovation and sustainability under Vision 2030.

Giovanni Di Filippo, the company’s vice president and general manager in Saudi Arabia, told Asharq Al-Awsat the firm had set up its regional headquarters in Riyadh and broken ground on a sustainable manufacturing facility that will produce millions of “Made in Saudi” computers and servers by 2026.

Through partnerships such as a recent tie-up with state-backed tech and industrial firm Alat, Lenovo aims to create jobs, build local skills, strengthen supply chains and bolster the kingdom’s digital economy.

Alat, launched by the Public Investment Fund in February 2024, seeks to establish Saudi Arabia as a global hub for sustainable industries and clean energy.

Labor market reforms

Alongside investments, Saudi Arabia is overhauling its labor market to attract global talent while training nationals.

Human capital is at the heart of the transformation, said Haider Hussain, managing partner for the Middle East and North Africa at immigration consultancy Fragomen.

He cited new visa categories, long-term residency pathways and human resources policies that have opened the door to international talent, alongside heavy investment in training young Saudis for a diversified economy.

He added that reforms in labor mobility reflect a strategic commitment to put people at the center of national transformation.

Future sectors

Saudi Arabia is also moving into frontier industries, including space. Martijn Blanken, chief executive of New Space Group, said the sector was a vital growth driver that boosts the Kingdom’s global standing in innovation.

He pledged to support local satellite services and space industries through technology transfer, localization and training to help Saudi Arabia become a leading player in the field in line with Vision 2030.

Investor appeal

Analysts say Saudi Arabia’s business environment is increasingly attractive thanks to digital infrastructure, special economic zones, flexible regulations, foreign ownership laws and training programs to boost local competitiveness.

The localization push is intersecting with rising foreign investment to create integrated supply chains and advanced manufacturing capacity, strengthening the Kingdom’s role as a regional hub for emerging technologies.

Economic outlook

The International Monetary Fund recently raised its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s real GDP growth to 3.6% in 2025, with momentum expected to continue in 2026, citing strong non-oil activity, historically low inflation and record-low unemployment.

With mega-projects underway and partnerships with global firms expanding, Saudi Arabia is pressing ahead with its long-term goal: building a diversified and sustainable economy.

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Business

As Trump Media Scraps Some Businesses, It's Doubling Down on Truth Social

Trump Media & Technology Company owns the Truth Social platform (Reuters)
Trump Media & Technology Company owns the Truth Social platform (Reuters)
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As Trump Media Scraps Some Businesses, It's Doubling Down on Truth Social

Trump Media & Technology Company owns the Truth Social platform (Reuters)
Trump Media & Technology Company owns the Truth Social platform (Reuters)

The president's media company has tried its hand at a half-dozen new lines of business to lift its stock, but nothing has worked.

Now it's getting back to its roots.

In a conference call with investors Monday, the company behind Truth Social said it will be unwinding much of its expansion and doubling down on its original media business by selling a form of White House access, a move that has raised big ethical questions among Democrats and government watchdogs, said The Associated Press.

Trump started Truth Social after he was kicked off Twitter and Facebook, but the two reinstated him more than three years ago, so the company has had to transform itself. Instead of a “free speech” forum, it now acts more like a “hear it here first” site, a second White House press office where people get scoops from the president on everything from the Iran war to tariffs to the future of the US central bank.

But shares of the parent company, Trump Media & Technology, kept falling so it decided to become more than a media company, and branched into unrelated industries like online betting, finance, investment funds, buying and storing bitcoin and nuclear energy.

Now it's returning to its original mission, with a twist: It's offering a special new service that grants fast access to President Trump's posts for a fee.

The new business could double or triple revenue

In a conference call with investors, the company's new chief executive, Kevin McGurn, said it had already signed up several high speed trading firms, each paying between $60,000 and $100,000 a month.

“We’re in the early innings,” said McGurn, noting that the potential market included data center companies, news organizations and developers of large language models, not just traders, and he was talking to them all.

McGurn has rejected the idea that the new business is an ethics quagmire as good-government groups have said, noting that other social media companies provide a similar service. As for the White House, it denies conflicts even exist between Trump the president and Trump the businessman where his private interests may influence his public policy.

Traders on Wall Street can make big money if they get White House news faster and so are signing up — 10 in the week since the service began, which may seem like a tiny number but translates into a major boost for the company. The monthly customers collectively are paying as much as $7 million and $12 million annually — two to three times the revenue the company took in for all its businesses last year.

Trump Media needs the money — and a lot more.

It's lost more than $1 billion since the start of last year, and its earnings report released Monday for the three months ended June 30 showed relief is not on the horizon. It lost another $238 million, though much of that was due to paper losses from the plunging value of its bitcoin holdings.

Time is running out

The clock is ticking to fix the company.

Trump Media depends partly on outside funding, specifically $1 billion raised from lenders with a special agreement that allows them to get paid back early. They can demand the company buy back their convertible notes on Nov. 30, 18 months before the loans mature.

That cashout date is just after the November midterms, which could impact the company should Democrats get control of Congress. Several current members, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, say they will hold formal investigations of Trump's businesses, including Trump Media, should they take over.

A third deadline is farther out, but the most consequential — the end of Trump's presidency.

Trump is a big draw for the platform's users, but it's not clear how many will read his posts after he leaves office, much less why traders will pay as much $1.2 million a year for sneak peeks at his posts if he's no longer able to declare on the site that the Strait of Hormuz is open or that he's hiking tariffs on dozens of countries.

Would Vance in the White House help Truth Social? The special, high-speed service, called Truth API, includes posts from other top posters on the site, but no one comes near the president in popularity. He has 13 million followers. The second biggest poster, his son, Donald Jr., has 7.5 million.

Other heavily followed posters include Trump administration members who also may fall in popularity once out of office, including FBI director Kash Patel and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A wild card is JD Vance, who will be out of his vice presidential job in 2028 but, if he runs for president and wins, may continue to post on the site where he has five million followers.

The other business line that McGurn is choosing to hold onto is nuclear fusion, a technology still not commercially available but that is getting a big boost by the current administration.

The US government has a helping hand In June, the US Department of Energy released a “road map” committing to government funding to speed the development of nuclear fusion as a national priority and calling for public-private partnerships.

Despite the help, investors still aren't convinced Trump Media has a rosy future.

After closing at about $62 shortly after it went public in 2024, the stock has plunged into the single digits, wiping out billions in stock market value.

On Monday, Trump Media dove again, down 8% to $9.39 a share.

Business

Oil Prices Rise Further as Hopes for Hormuz Deal Fade

Workers walk across pipelines at the Rumaila oil field in Basra, Iraq (Reuters)
Workers walk across pipelines at the Rumaila oil field in Basra, Iraq (Reuters)
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Oil Prices Rise Further as Hopes for Hormuz Deal Fade

Workers walk across pipelines at the Rumaila oil field in Basra, Iraq (Reuters)
Workers walk across pipelines at the Rumaila oil field in Basra, Iraq (Reuters)

Oil prices extended hefty gains Tuesday as hopes for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz fade, fanning fresh inflation fears and ramping up bets on at least one US interest rate hike this year.

Crude has surged around 10 percent over the past week, with the United States and Iran appearing no closer to a deal on the crucial waterway despite upbeat comments from the White House earlier in the month, according to AFP.

In the latest blow, Donald Trump said Monday he would seek conflict compensation from Iran as part of any peace negotiations, citing attacks and killings stretching back decades allegedly backed or perpetrated by Tehran.

The US president's announcement was a direct response to Tehran's demand for US war reparations as a precondition to any resolution of the crisis.

Trump's remarks came a day after he said he was "low-keying" his approach to the conflict, suggesting he was prepared to let economic pressure mount in place of further military strikes.

However, the latest back and forth risks putting a quick agreement further out of reach, and on Monday both main crude contracts jumped around five percent. They extended the gains on Tuesday.

"In the absence of any positive headlines on negotiations to reopen the strait, pressure on oil prices has been upward," wrote Jason Wong at BNZ.

And Stephen Innes, global strategist at Quintex Intel, said: "In effect, both sides are trying to weaponize the oil barrel without firing another shot. Washington is trying to choke Iran's ability to get its crude out, while Tehran is squeezing the artery through which everybody else's crude gets through.

"It is quite the game of chicken."

The prospect of oil prices remaining elevated for the time being has revived concerns over inflation and boosted the chances of interest rate increases.

While a surprise loss of more than 20,000 jobs in the US economy last month eased fears of a Federal Reserve hike, a spike in price pressures could force the bank's hand.

Cleveland Fed boss Beth Hammack told Yahoo Finance on Monday: "I would say in general, one 25-basis-point move probably doesn't do a whole lot for the economy.

"So it's probably some number of (movements). But I don't want to prejudge what that number is going to be."

The US-Iran deadlock and rising crude costs comes as traders await the release of consumer price data on Wednesday, which could play a key role in guiding the Fed on its next move.

Asian equities were mixed following a tepid day on Wall Street.

Shanghai, Wellington, Taipei and Manila all edged down but there were gains in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and Seoul.

Tokyo was closed for a holiday.

Business

Riyadh to Host 10th Future Investment Initiative Conference in October

Participants during a previous edition of the conference. (SPA)
Participants during a previous edition of the conference. (SPA)
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Riyadh to Host 10th Future Investment Initiative Conference in October

Participants during a previous edition of the conference. (SPA)
Participants during a previous edition of the conference. (SPA)

Under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the tenth edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Conference will take place in Riyadh from October 26 to 29.

Held under the theme “The Power of Legacy,” FII10 will bring together heads of state, investors, policymakers, innovators and business leaders to explore how today’s decisions can create lasting prosperity for future generations, said the FII Institute in a statement on Monday.

The program will focus on four pillars: capital that builds, technology that elevates, societies that thrive and leadership that inspires.

Princess Dr. Maha bint Mishari Al Saud, Chief Executive Officer of FII Institute, expressed her appreciation for the generous Royal Patronage of the tenth edition.

She noted that the Saudi leadership’s continued support for the Institute’s events and activities, together with the guidance of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, constitutes a fundamental pillar in advancing the comprehensive development envisioned by Saudi Vision 2030 and shaping a prosperous and sustainable economic future.

“For ten years, FII has brought together leaders who recognize the power of investment to advance human progress. FII10 invites our global community to consider the legacy of the choices we make, the partnerships we build and the innovations we support. Our goal is to turn these choices into lasting impact for people and future generations,” she added.

Across four days, FII10 will bring together a diverse global community of leaders, investors, policymakers, innovators, and changemakers for a wide-ranging program addressing the world’s most pressing economic and investment priorities.

Since its launch, FII has evolved into a leading global platform for dialogue, collaboration, and action, convening influential voices from around the world. Major agreements and commitments have been announced through the platform, further reinforcing Riyadh’s position as a global center for investment, collaboration, and action.