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MUST-READS

  • AI chip startup Groq secures $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia

    The startup has an existing agreement with Aramco Digital, the technology subsidiary of oil major Aramco, through which the companies built a critical AI hub in the region in December. Groq told Reuters it will receive funds over the course of this year to expand its existing data center in Dammam. The company's chips, which specialize in fast responses from chatbots and other large language models, are subject to U.S. export controls, but Groq said it has obtained the licenses it needs to ship them to Dammam.

  • UAE and Saudi Arabia Lead Middle East Energy Transition

    The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has long been at the center of the global energy universe, with national oil companies (NOCs) and their predecessors charged with developing vast oil and gas resources for nearly a century. While the region will undoubtedly remain a dominant player in traditional oil and gas spheres for the foreseeable future, several key countries and NOCs are strategically positioning themselves to become key hubs and global leaders in new emerging energy markets. The result is an increasing divergence between the strategies of NOCs in the more forward-leaning countries, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and, on a more regional level, Oman, and the more traditional petrostates, such as Kuwait and Qatar, where NOCs are primary focused on delivering operational results and revenues to the state.

  • Sotheby’s Establishes a Foothold in Saudi Arabia After Hosting the Kingdom’s First Major Auction

    The results were like the two-part evening sale’s lineup: a mixed bag. The house took in $17.3 million (estimate: $14 million–$20 million) across 117 lots, with works of fine art, luxury objects, and sports memorabilia among them. However, the value of the house’s foray into the desert kingdom was never going to be confined to the depth of bidding alone. The historic outdoor auction served as a portal into the Saudi art and luxury markets (terra incognita for international auction houses), and it will be appraised against the long-term success of Sotheby’s in the country.

  • Saudi Arabian Unicorn Tabby Taps HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley for IPO

    Saudi Arabia-based Tabby, one of the Middle East’s first fintech unicorns, has hired banks to help prepare for an eventual initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. The buy-now, pay-later firm is working with HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley on the deal, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The plans at an early stage, and no final decisions have been made on the timing or the size of the offer, they said. The firm could potentially look to raise additional cash ahead of the listing, according to one of the people. It was valued at $1.5 billion in its most recent funding round, in November 2023.

  • Is Iran changing its tone on negotiations with the US?

    After seemingly giving his blessing to talks with the US, Iran’s supreme leader is questioning the value of negotiations with the Donald Trump administration. The shift in tone has sparked a backlash on Iranian social media, with many users complaining about rising costs and the country’s political isolation. On the political stage, hardliners in Tehran who deeply mistrust Washington have welcomed Khamenei’s intervention. This comes as Reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials have derided Trump for imposing sanctions while expressing a desire to talk.

  • What Trump’s steel tariffs mean to the Middle East

    Donald Trump’s proposed US steel tariffs will put Turkish producers most at risk in the Middle East, while Gulf steel exporters will be sheltered from the worst of the damage, experts have told AGBI. On Sunday Mr Trump, the newly elected US president, said he would soon unveil 25 percent import taxes on all steel and aluminium imports to the United States, adding that these would be for “everyone”. Kaye Ayub, head of price analysis at the UK steel market insights company MEPS International, told AGBI: “With these new tariffs in place, a significant volume of steel will need to find alternative customers.  “Suppliers in the Middle East will find themselves competing with producers in Asia, and particularly China, as exports are redirected from the US to other markets, increasing competition in the region.”

  • Gulf telcos should ignore Europe’s fading allure

    Long-suffering investors in Gulf telecom operators would be forgiven for shuddering when reading a recent S&P Global Ratings report. Here they will learn that the region’s leading telcos “want to scale up their business and geographic footprints by increasing their exposure to stable European markets”. Why the palpitations among minority shareholders? Well, e& (formerly Etisalat), Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Ooredoo – the former telecom monopolies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar respectively – wasted tens of billions of dollars between them on misadventures abroad in the noughties and 2010s.

  • Deals worth $15bn on day one of Saudi Leap tech event

    Investment deals worth almost $15 billion have been announced on the first day of the Leap 25 tech event in Riyadh. The Saudi communications ministry said that deals signed on day one of the four-day event, which ends on Wednesday, totalled $14.9 billion. The deals included plans for a manufacturing plant in the Saudi capital by the Chinese computer-maker Lenovo and the Saudi Public Investment Fund-backed technology company Alat. The plant will produce millions of Saudi-made laptops and desktops from next year and create 15,000 direct and 45,000 indirect jobs, Lenovo said.  Lenovo said it will also establish a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia.

  • LEAP 2025: NEOM, DataVolt anounce $5bln deal to establish first sustainable AI data centre in Saudi

    The second day of LEAP 2025, Saudi Arabia’s award-winning global tech event, produced further announcements totalling US$6.13 billion of investments in technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Leading the roll call of mega investments to continue the evolution of the Kingdom’s technology ecosystem, DataVolt and Saudi Arabian giga-project NEOM announced a US$5 billion partnership to establish the first fully sustainable AI data centre with a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts in Oxagon – the floating industrial city being developed in the Red Sea.

  • China Harbour’s moduling building factory begins operations in Saudi Arabia

    Spanning approximately 200,000 square meters, the factory will supply prefabricated components for the Sedra project's fully modular villas, while laying the industrial foundation for future prefabricated construction initiatives in Saudi Arabia, the CHEC announced in a statement on Sunday. At the inauguration ceremony on Sunday, Iain McBride, head of commercial at Saudi ROSHN Real Estate Company, praised the factory's remarkable speed of completion, commending its design, construction quality, and safety standards.