In succession to its plans to drive growth, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently announced a $100 billion fund. This initiative, codenamed Project Transcendence, aims to invest in startups, specifically in artificial intelligence, data analytics, and other advanced technologies.
Project Transcendence marks a significant push by the Kingdom to develop a robust AI ecosystem, a strategic shift from its traditional energy-driven economy. This envisioned ecosystem is expected to rival leading tech hubs, including those in neighboring countries such as the United Arab Emirates and other global technology centers.
Sources familiar with the developments have hinted at the ongoing recruitment of top global AI talent, large-scale investments into R&D, and incentivization of foreign companies looking to expand footprints across the Kingdom.
Project Transcendence has no wonder emerged as the cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan. It underscores the country’s commitment to economic diversification beyond oil. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s aggressive push and lucrative policies reflect its ambitious plans to position itself as the global tech leader within the next decade.
Project Transcendence closely mirrors the state-run initiative - Alat. Alat is a 100 Billion USD fund led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that invests in sustainable manufacturing. Akin to Alat, Project Transcendence will co-invest with international firms and large technological companies.
In terms of execution, the Kingdom has already adopted the framework and policies. As per the sources,
“An AI hub is being built by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Alphabet Inc.’s Google may serve as the starting point for a broader initiative.”
The sources further revealed that both companies plan to invest between $5 billion and $10 billion in a partnership, including discussions on creating Arabic-language AI models.
Some of the other notable names betting big on this AI wave in Saudi Arabia are Microsoft ($2.1 billion in a super-scaler cloud), Oracle ($1.5 billion to launch new cloud areas), and Huawei ($400 million in cloud infrastructure.)
While there has been no official confirmation, our sources confirm that the project will ultimately involve multiple government bodies. The Kingdom will have a close eye on the developments and is moving aggressively to beat competitors like the US and China, to become the world’s biggest AI hub.
On the other hand, Saudi officials have also been vocal about the development of an entity that would be a national champion and at least as big as Abu Dhabi’s G42 tech conglomerate.
More than just being a part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, AI has emerged as THE action plan for the country. The Kingdom aims to identify and tap into new sources of revenue as the world prepares itself to diversify its dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs.
The Kingdom is set on a mission to become a top 15 country in AI by 2030. Saudi plans to achieve this by spending the rest of this decade adopting the technology at home and then exporting it from 2030. To accelerate development, the kingdom has already launched major research centers and ministries devoted to development in AI and is on the verge of the creation of large language models (LLMs) similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
However, the Saudi Crown Prince’s ambitious plans for this 360-degree transformation are no exception to challenges. For instance, the trillion-dollar Neom project has been facing serious backlash due to budget deficits. However, for the following AI ambition, the PIF was seen separately having early talks with partner venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz on a fund that can grow to as large as $40 billion in investments. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) aimed to initially run a new fund and would be among investors contributing to it.