Making good on a strategic collaboration agreement announced in May 2024, Alat and Lenovo broke ground on Sunday on a new manufacturing plant outside of Riyadh.
Construction of the factory follows the closing of the Alat and Lenovo strategic partnership agreement on January 8, 2025 which includes a $2 billion investment (via three-year zero-coupon convertible bonds).
The new facility will be constructed on a 200,000 sqm campus that is 15 minutes from Riyadh’s international airport and within “Riyadh Integrated” operated by the Special Integrated Logistics Zone (SILZ). The factory will produce millions of “Saudi Made” laptops and desktops, as well as servers. Production is expected to begin in 2026,
According to Lenovo, the Saudi factory, “will complement Lenovo’s extensive manufacturing footprint of 30+ factories around the world spanning Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, and the USA, and further increase supply chain resilience and flexibility. The new manufacturing hub will also enable Lenovo to be closer to customers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.”
The Lenovo partnership with Alat is projected to create up to 15,000 direct jobs and 45,000 indirect jobs with a cumulative non-oil GDP contribution of up to $10 billion by 2030.
As part of its strategic agreement, Lenovo will establish a regional Middle East and Africa headquarters (RHQ) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to serve customers in the region, a flagship retail space, and expand investments in Research and Development as well as marketing and strategic partnerships in both KSA and the MEA region.
Headquartered in Beijing, Lenovo has over 69,500 employees globally.
Yuanqing Yang, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo, said: “Through this powerful strategic collaboration and investment with Alat, we gain greater global presence, a strong regional foothold, and the ability to capitalize on the incredible growth momentum in KSA and the wider MEA region. We are excited to have Alat as our long-term strategic partner and are confident that our world-class supply chain capabilities as well as our innovation will benefit KSA as it drives its Vision 2030 goals of economic diversification, industrial development, innovation, and job creation.”
This is a notable milestone for Alat which was established to create manufacturing capabilities across nine sectors including semiconductors, smart devices, smart buildings, smart appliances, smart health, electrification, advanced industrials, next generation and AI infrastructure. The company intends to manufacture products in 34 categories across these nine business units.
