Saudi Arabia’s gigaproject strategy is growing beyond engineering gigaprojects like Neom as the 2026-2030 investment roadmap takes shape. In 2025, the focus shifted toward AI, religious tourism, logistics, and mining — sectors that deliver faster returns — while Neom and similar developments increasingly function as long-term investments.

Background: When Vision 2030 was first unveiled in 2016, it was built on an engineering-first vision. Flagship gigaprojects such as Neom, The Line, and Oxagon were positioned as the backbone of economic transformation — massive, capital-intensive builds designed to reshape the economy over decades.

Public Investment Fund (PIF) Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan made it clear that Neom is no longer the sole center of gravity. The next phase of the strategy is structured around six priority “ecosystems” — tourism and entertainment, urban development, advanced manufacturing and innovation, industry and logistics, renewable energy — and, finally, Neom.

IN CONTEXT- While officials pushed back on reports in 2024 that Neom was being downsized, the project has since entered a “comprehensive review” under CEO Aiman Al Mudaifer. Some elements of the USD 500 bn Red Sea project may be delayed or scaled back, even as the broader vision holds.

Fiscal reality is changing priorities

This recalibration is being driven by fiscal pressure. Lower oil prices, rising borrowing, and a widening deficit have forced policymakers to reassess the pace of spending. Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan was explicit in May, saying the government needs to “take stock” to avoid the economy “overheating.” He was clear that unchecked spending risks repeating the boom-and-bust cycles that historically followed periods of aggressive public spending.

This means moving away from an “all at once” buildout toward phased, flexible spending that can adjust to future oil prices and investment flows. Al Jadaan reinforced this position in October, saying Saudi Arabia “will not have any hesitation of actually changing” any strategy or project that fails to deliver results.

The construction recalibration

Saudi Arabia’s gigaproject spending fell to a five-year low in 2025. Contract awards dropped sharply, with just USD 8.5 bn awarded through November, compared with USD 29.3 bn in 2024 and a peak of USD 34.6 bn in 2023, according to Meed.

This shift is most visible at Neom, where work has been re-scoped into smaller, more manageable phases. Reports indicate that the initial buildout has narrowed from 20 modules to just three, while the urgency to award new civil works has cooled. Timelines are stretching as well, with gigaproject delivery increasingly moving beyond 2030 into the 2030–2040 window.

But the gigaprojects pipeline is still robust: Gigaproject contract awards rose 20% in the first eight months of 2025, driven by prioritization of developments linked to Expo 2030 and the 2034 Fifa World Cup. Several Neom components are still advancing, most notably the green hydrogen project, where 90% of construction has been completed across all sites.

2025 was not without new launches: PIF subsidiary Rua Al Haram Al Makki announced the King Salman Gate project in Makkah, along with plans for the USD 2 bn National Athletics Stadium at Qiddiya. In Riyadh, the Expo 2030 site also saw its first cranes arrive, marking the start of early works ahead of full operations in October 2030.

PIF disclosures further point to a deeper pipeline ahead. Several wholly owned subsidiaries hold unannounced gigaprojects, suggesting that additional developments may surface later in the cycle. More than USD 50 bn in packages are currently out to tender or under evaluation, with a further USD 47 bn in the prequalification stage.

The new champions

PIF plans to sharpen its 2026-2030 investment strategy around building a smaller group of portfolio companies into global champions in sectors including manufacturing, AI, and aviation. These sectors generate immediate GDP growth and employment once operational, unlike large-scale real estate and urban megaprojects that deliver returns over much longer timelines.

Humain is the new Aramco: Humain is the clear frontrunner in the new strategy, built on Saudi ultra-low-cost solar power to run AI data centers at a fraction of global costs. The goal is to position the country as a preferred hub for global model training and deployment. Humain aims to become the world’s third-largest computing capacity provider, behind the US and China, with plans to deploy 18k AI chips by 2026 and scale up to 400k by 2030.

… and it is moving fast: Just last week, Humain received its first shipment of Nvidia’s latest AI GPU chips, which will be deployed before next year, CEO Tareq Amin said on LinkedIn. Last month, the company partnered with STC’s Center3 to develop and operate up to 1 GW of AI-focused data centers. At the November US-Saudi Investment Forum, Humain also partnered with Cisco, AMD, and xAI to build a network of data centers in the Kingdom and across the Middle East.

ICYMI- We sat down with Amin in September to discuss the company’s ambitions for AI infrastructure in the Kingdom and their new Arabic-first generative AI product Humain Chat. He voiced Humain’s strategy to build 1.9 GW of new data center capacity by 2030 and scale that up to 6.6 GW by 2034.

On the industrial side, Alat has emerged as PIF’s flagship manufacturing platform. The company is tasked with driving non-oil GDP growth by 2030, highlighted by its USD 2 bn strategic partnership with Lenovo to establish a regional electronics manufacturing hub in Riyadh.

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