Saudi Arabia’s new $100 billion investment firm, Alat, announced several deals Tuesday aimed at transforming the Gulf country into a global leader in AI, industrials and manufacturing.
The technology firm, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), plans to invest $100 billion by 2030 to coincide with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan to wean the kingdom’s economy off of its reliance on oil, by increasing revenue streams from other sectors such as manufacturing, green energy and sports. Prince Mohammed established Alat on Feb. 1.
SoftBank partnership
One announcement was Alat’s partnership with SoftBank Group, which will see the two businesses invest up to $150 million to establish a fully automated manufacturing and engineering hub in Riyadh, a company statement said. The hub will build robots developed by SoftBank and its partners, with the first factory due to open in December.
“With this initial setup, we predict a contribution of $1 billion to Saudi Arabia’s GDP by 2025,” said Alat CEO Amit Midha in the statement. “Our ambition is to fundamentally transform industrial manufacturing by robots, manufactured in the kingdom.”
The PIF has a long-standing relationship with SoftBank and has already committed $45 billion to the Vision Fund, which the two entities co-founded in May 2017.
Chinese joint venture
Alat also announced a deal elsewhere in Asia. One of China's biggest surveillance technology companies, Dahua Technology, announced a joint venture (JV) with Alat to develop its first overseas manufacturing facility in the kingdom.
The JV aims to create a “highly automated manufacturing hub” for AIoT products and intelligent solutions in cities and commercial areas, with a total investment of $200 million.
Commenting on that deal, Midha said, “We have great ambitions to take Smart City and Smart Enterprise solutions, made in the kingdom, to both local and international markets. Dahua's mission coincides well with our goal to drive and execute a vision of creating global sustainable technology, manufactured in the kingdom.”
Controversially, Dahua is prohibited from receiving products made outside of the United States with American technology since the Biden administration put the company on a black list in 2022, citing national security concerns. The United States has also barred the import of the company's technology, which the Biden administration has linked to the abuse of China's Uighur Muslims.
Carrying on with Carrier
Meanwhile, US-headquartered heating and ventilation company Carrier Global will also build a manufacturing and research and development facility in Saudi Arabia, which will produce a range of HVAC products including VRF, air-cooled chillers, AHUs and rooftop units for MENA markets, according to a statement. The facility is expected to create around 5,000 jobs. The investment amount and size of the facility were not publicly disclosed.
In a statement, Alat said the agreement “will leverage Alat’s financial strengths and Carrier’s technology and manufacturing capabilities” to develop made-in Saudi Arabia intelligent climate solutions.
The number of factories in the kingdom increased by 50% by 2023 compared to 2016, when Vision 2030 was launched, with over 10,000 industrial facilities. Saudi Arabia country looks to have 32,000 by 2035.
