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  • Golf Saudi ambassadors delivered excitement under the lights for home crowd at LIV Golf Riyadh

    Competing in front of the passionate home crowd, Golf Saudi ambassadors Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch, Harold Varner III, Jason Kokrak not only showcased their skills on the green but also their commitment to developing golf in Saudi Arabia. By supporting grassroots programs, mentoring emerging talent, and promoting Saudi golf on the global stage, they are helping shape the future of the game in the country. Adding to the local presence, Khaled Attieh, one of Saudi’s newest professional players and a recently announced Golf Saudi ambassador, was selected as reserve for the 2025 season-opening LIV event. His participation further underscored Saudi’s growing impact on the sport, as he gained valuable experience among some of the world’s top golfers.

  • Saudi Industrial Production Index up 2.1% in December

    Saudi Arabia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) added 2.1% year-on-year (YoY) in December 2024, data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed. The IPI rose to 104.23 points in December, according to the base year 2021, compared to 102.13 points in December 2023. GASTAT attributed the growth to higher activity in manufacturing, water supply, sanitation, waste management and treatment sectors. The IPI measures the relative change in production quantities of materials and goods, tracking their transformation from raw materials to final consumable products for economic returns.

  • Saudi Neom, DataVolt sign agreement for $5 billion AI project

    Saudi Arabia's NEOM, a Red Sea urban and industrial development, has signed a deal with DataVolt to develop a 1.5 gigawatt (GW) net zero artificial intelligence project in its Oxagon industrial zone, the Saudi state news agency reported on Monday.
    The project, which will operate as an integrated data centre, would see investment worth $5 billion in the first phase, SPA reported, adding it is set to be operational in 2028. It comes as the kingdom races to become an artificial intelligence hub, amid regional competition from the UAE and Qatar, capitalising on booming demand for generative AI technology, which requires vast amounts of processing power. Last year, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) Yasir Al-Rumayyan pitched the kingdom as a prospective hub for artificial intelligence activity outside the United States, citing its energy resources and funding capacity.

  • Anti-Patriarchy Saudi Drama ‘Hobal’ Beats Hollywood Titles, Becoming Standout Local Hit

    Saudi filmmaker Abdulaziz Alshlahei’s drama “Hobal” about clashes between tradition and modernity within a Saudi family during the early 1990s is scoring mightily at the Saudi Arabian box office, outperfoming Hollywood titles such as “Mufasa: The Lion King,” “Flight Risk” and “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.” The timely film in which a Saudi family is forced by its grandfather to live in isolation in the desert at the outbreak of the 1990 Gulf War, when a young girl falls ill, prompting her mother to fight the patriarchy to try and save her child, is striking a deep chord with Saudi audiences. “Hobal” has now pulled more than 500,000 admissions since its Jan. 2 release via distributor Qanwat Group, racking up a handsome roughly $5.7 million take to date, according to figures from the Saudi Film Commission which compiles Saudi box office numbers.

  • A Blueprint For The Future: Global Lessons In Sustainability From Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030

    My team and I had our eyes on Saudi Arabia with a clear purpose: to meet the people and organizations leading the charge in conservation and sustainability. Our goal was to experience the Kingdom’s top-down approach, where leadership drives businesses and communities alike toward ambitious environmental objectives. From urban planning to marine conservation initiatives, we sought to explore how the country is positioning itself as a global model for integrating advanced science and sustainability into every layer of its rapid development.

  • Records set for Arab artists at Sotheby’s debut Saudi Arabia auction

    Sotheby’s reported a full house for the “Origins” sale, which was held in a 250-seat outdoor amphitheater and featured participants from 45 countries. The sale totaled $17.28m with a sell-through rate of 67% by lot and 74% by value. Almost a third of the buyers were from Saudi Arabia. The auction offered an eclectic mix of around 120 objects. Approximately half were works of art and a quarter watches and jewelry, while there were also 17 designer handbags and several items of sports memorabilia.

  • Sotheby’s ‘Origins’ auction in Diriyah achieves more than $17 million in sales, with Saudi artists shining

    Sotheby’s inaugural auction in Saudi Arabia, titled “Origins,” concluded on Saturday with a total of $17,283,840 in sales in the fine art and luxury categories. The historic event at Diriyah’s Bujairi Terrace was a turning point for the Kingdom’s art and luxury scene, with Saudi artists garnering significant attention. Jerry Inzerillo, CEO of Diriyah Company, highlighted the significance of the collaboration between Diriyah and Sotheby’s. “A few years ago, we decided that Sotheby’s, as a 277-year-old brand, had to match up with Diriyah because the value systems were the same, and you can’t be Sotheby’s without being in Diriyah,” he said in his opening remarks. The modern and contemporary art section featured works by Saudi artists that collectively realized $1.1 million in sales.

  • Opinion: Saudi Arabia should consider regional leadership as an alternative to normalisation with Israel

    Looking at the issue objectively, Saudi Arabia does not need to normalise relations with the occupation state of Israel after the collapse of the Iranian axis in the region, the end of Tehran’s influence in Syria in particular and its significant decline in Lebanon. The US and other right-wing Zionist lobbies that were pushing Saudi Arabia to normalisation no longer have an argument to continue to do so. These lobbies, successive US administrations, Netanyahu and Israeli governments are the ones begging for normalisation with Saudi Arabia, because all would benefit from it, but the biggest loser would be Saudi Arabia itself. However, policy and statements issued by Riyadh, especially in the wake of the crazy statements by the man in the White House, all indicate a firmness in the Saudi position that has strengthened the Arab position as a whole, whether about calling for the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, or on the issue of the Palestinian state.

  • 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.