{"id":101771,"date":"2025-10-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/10\/26\/riyadh-gears-up-for-star-studded-fii9\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T00:00:00","slug":"riyadh-gears-up-for-star-studded-fii9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2025\/10\/26\/riyadh-gears-up-for-star-studded-fii9\/","title":{"rendered":"Riyadh gears up for star-studded FII9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, wonderful people<\/strong>. All eyes are on Riyadh as it gears up for hosting FII9, set to kick off its four-day run tomorrow under King Abdul Aziz Conference Center\u2019s golden domes. The gathering in Riyadh has been a platform to showcase the Kingdom\u2019s diversification plans and attract foreign investments from big players all over the world.<\/p>\n

The list of expected speakers and attendees goes into the hundreds.<\/strong> More than 20 state leaders are expected to attend, including Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa, Pakistan\u2019s Shehbaz Sharif, Colombia\u2019s Gustavo Petro, as well as China\u2019s Vice President Han Zheng. There will be no shortage of finance heavyweights as well \u2014 from BlackRock\u2019s CEO Larry Fink to JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, Citi's Jane Fraser, and HSBC\u2019s Georges Elhedery. Representatives of energy and tech giants are to include Intel's Lip-Bu Tan and OpenAI\u2019s CFO Sarah Friar, among many others.<\/p>\n

Things may be different at the conference\u2019s ninth year.<\/strong> The Kingdom is reportedly shifting the focus of the summit from big construction projects to high-ticket investments in AI, gaming, and high-tech manufacturing, unnamed sources told Bloomberg<\/a>. Tareq Amin, CEO of PIF\u2019s AI champion Humain and one of the featured speakers, has already teased<\/a> major announcements from the company at FII9, coming weeks after a PIF-led consortium sealed a whopping USD 55 bn take-private agreement<\/a> for US-based gaming giant Electronic Arts.<\/p>\n

The shift seems to make sense<\/strong>, as some elements of gigaprojects \u2014 including Neom\u2019s ski resort Trojena \u2014 are facing delays<\/a> amid budget pressures and lower oil prices. Neom as a whole is facing some serious revisions against the Kingdom\u2019s other projects and priorities, the sources added, and the numbers are telling the same story: less than 1% of gigaproject awards this year have gone into Neom, compared to over half in 2024, according to MEED Projects data cited by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

Saudi is not shying away from the possibility of rethinking its diversification trajectory. <\/strong>Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said earlier this month that the kingdom \u201cwill not have any hesitation of actually changing\u201d any strategy or project that does not prove useful to its goals.<\/p>\n

DATA POINT- The Kingdom is targeting USD 100 bn in annual FDI by 2030<\/strong>. Summits like FII and high-profile visits such as President Trump\u2019s visit back in May<\/a> bring us closer, but reaching this figure seems increasingly unlikely<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HAPPENING TODAY-<\/p>\n

Th<\/a><\/strong>e Global Proptech Summit 2025<\/a><\/strong> kicks off today in <\/strong>Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah, <\/strong>Riyadh.<\/strong> The two-day event explores the intersection between technology and the real estate sector, featuring over 100 speakers from 85 countries, with participation from global real estate companies, proptech firms, and investment platforms. The event includes a dedicated exhibition showcasing the latest innovations in property technology.<\/p>\n

WEATHER<\/strong>- <\/strong>Winds are still whipping up dust and sand across parts of Makkah, Madinah, and Hail, keeping skies hazy. Thunder clouds might gather on parts of Jazan and Asir highlands.<\/p>\n