RIYADH — The visit of U.S. President Donald J. Trump to Saudi Arabia, accompanied by top executives from leading American tech firms, has reinforced the Kingdom’s position as a global hub for digital economy, artificial intelligence, and space innovation, said Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha.
In remarks to the Saudi Press Agency, Al-Swaha noted that the visit highlights Saudi Arabia’s emergence as the region’s largest digital economy and a magnet for foreign tech investment. The Kingdom attracted over $13 billion in U.S. investments in AI, cloud services, and data centers during 2024-2025, representing more than 90% of all international tech inflows in those sectors.
Al-Swaha credited Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation to the robust backing of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, under Vision 2030. The country has become a regional and global center for innovation, fueled by partnerships with major U.S. firms including AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Groq.
The minister emphasized that Saudi Arabia’s investments extend beyond technology to human capital. Collaborations with Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft have helped cultivate the region’s largest digital talent pool, with over 381,000 skilled professionals. The Kingdom has also made global strides in empowering women in AI, leading international benchmarks in inclusion.
On space exploration, Al-Swaha highlighted Saudi Arabia’s role as a key partner to U.S. agencies, citing the launch of the first Saudi female astronaut to the International Space Station in collaboration with Axiom, NASA, and SpaceX. The Kingdom’s accession to the Artemis Accords underscores its growing role in the $2 trillion global space economy.
Saudi-U.S. innovation ties have also led to the establishment of 14 centers of excellence in partnership with top universities such as MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and IBM, advancing research in AI, nanotechnology, and clean energy.
