{"id":105932,"date":"2026-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/02\/19\/this-morning-happy-early-founding-day\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:00:00","slug":"this-morning-happy-early-founding-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/02\/19\/this-morning-happy-early-founding-day\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: Happy (early) Founding Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, ladies and gents, and happy THURSDAY.<\/strong> We hope your first Iftar was joyous and warm, and that the usual endearing chaos of large family gatherings was (somewhat) tolerable.<\/p>\n

Our big story today: <\/strong>Humain invested USD 3 bn in Elon Musk\u2019s AI company xAI, cementing its partnership with the world\u2019s richest man and securing a minority stake just before the company merged with his other venture SpaceX.<\/p>\n

ALSO- <\/strong>Maersk\u2019s APM snapped up a stake in Jeddah terminal, and Actis\u2019 Sherif El Kholy turns the attention to battery energy storage and grid infrastructure investments as necessary for data center buildout.<\/p>\n

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**PROGRAMMING NOTE- EnterpriseAM Saudi will be off on Sunday to celebrate <\/strong>Founding Day.<\/strong> We wish you a happy long weekend, and we will be back in your inboxes first thing Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Watch this space<\/p>\n

<\/a> Riyadh appears to be closing the loophole that allowed <\/strong>consultants and executives to service Saudi clients without relocating. <\/strong>Saudi authorities have reportedly stepped up scrutiny of business visa applications, increasingly rejecting filings from UAE-based professionals whose travel patterns suggest they are working in the Kingdom rather than visiting, AGBI<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

The crackdown targets the \u201ccommuter model\u201d: <\/strong>Authorities are now flagging \u201ctravel frequency, length of stay and the nature of activities undertaken, particularly where patterns resemble full-time employment,\u201d Abdulrahman Alfahad, a client relationship manager at Sovereign PPG Corporate Services, told the outlet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a volume issue:<\/strong> The shift follows what Abeer Husseini, a partner at immigration law firm Fragomen, calls \u201cscaled misuse\u201d of visas that were never intended for revenue-generating work.<\/p>\n

Why it matters: <\/strong>If the trend is true, this removes the friction-free option to service the Kingdom remotely, forcing firms to either relocate reluctant staff (which is expensive), hire locally (which is challenging), or risk having their consultants turned away at the border.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> DEFENSE \u2014 Lockheed Martin is targeting full operations at its Saudi software facility by the<\/strong> fourth quarter of the year<\/strong>, Chief Executive and Vice President for Saudi Arabia and Africa Joseph Rank told Asharq Business (watch, runtime: 2:16)<\/a> on the sidelines of the World Defense Show. The site is currently in trial phase and hasn\u2019t yet reached full capacity, he said.<\/p>\n

The plant\u2019s role will extend beyond Lockheed Martin\u2019s own needs<\/strong>, with the capacity to provide software services to other commercial entities in the Kingdom and support local suppliers, he added.<\/p>\n

IN CONTEXT-<\/strong> Lockheed\u2019s second technical play is on the way, with the company partnering<\/a><\/a> with Pioneers Technical Systems to establish the Kingdom\u2019s first PAC-3 ground depot, which will test, repair, and certify launcher components for the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces\u2019 Patriot missile defense system.<\/p>\n

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Data point<\/p>\n

<\/a> SAR 15.3 bn \u2014 that\u2019s the total value of consumer spending via point-of-sale <\/strong>(PoS)<\/strong> in the Kingdom in the week ending 14 February<\/strong>, down 4.8% w-o-w, according to the Saudi Central Bank\u2019s latest weekly report (pdf)<\/a>. The number of transactions also saw a slight cooling, falling 1.6% w-o-w to 252.1 mn. The dip follows an increase in the previous weeks as household spending patterns begin to normalize ahead of the start of Ramadan.<\/p>\n

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Get Enterprise<\/b> daily <\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The roundup of news and trends that move your markets and shape corporate agendas delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Subscribe here<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

***<\/strong>You\u2019re reading EnterpriseAM Saudi<\/strong>, your essential daily roundup of business, economics, and must-read news about Saudi, delivered straight to your inbox. We\u2019re out Sunday through Thursday by 7am Riyadh time.<\/p>\n

EnterpriseAM Saudi is available without charge <\/strong>thanks to the generous support of our friends at Tas\u2019heel and Hassan Allam Properties.<\/p>\n

Want to send us a story idea<\/strong>, request coverage, ask for a correction, or otherwise get in touch? Reach out to us on saudi@enterpriseAM.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DID YOU KNOW <\/strong>that we also cover Egypt<\/a>, the UAE<\/a>, the MENA logistics<\/a> industry, and the <\/a>MENA <> India<\/a> corridor?<\/p>\n

Were you forwarded this email? <\/strong>Tap or click here<\/a> to get your own copy of EnterpriseAM Saudi delivered every weekday.
***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The big story abroad <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hold your breath waiting for the Fed to continue its easing policy. <\/strong>Minutes<\/a> from the Federal Reserve's January meeting showed that policymakers anticipated \u201cslower and more uneven than generally expected\u201d progress toward its inflation target of 2%. That said, Fed members indicated that keeping rates steady would \u201clikely be appropriate [\u2026] for some time as the committee carefully assesses incoming data.\u201d<\/p>\n

The greenback was slightly <\/strong>elevated by the news<\/a><\/strong> in early trading<\/strong>, maintaining earlier gains against the JPY and the EUR.<\/p>\n

ALSO- Social media giant Meta is in hot water<\/strong> after its CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in<\/a>court<\/a> that the company no longer seeks to maximize the time spent by users on its platforms and bars kids under 13 from logging on. The CEO\u2019s claims ran counter to internal emails and documents indicating otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLUS: Lockheed Martin wants full ops at Saudi software facility by 4Q<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2540],"tags":[10,9,4103],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-105932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-were-tracking-today","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-what-were-tracking-today","tag-xx","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"2e5c72e7-5ec5-4056-b6a2-8067231459cf","order":"2","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"4","photo_url":"http:\/\/xx","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Happy (early) Founding Day","related_issue":[105930],"teaser":"PLUS: Lockheed Martin wants full ops at Saudi software facility by 4Q"},"yoast_head":"\nTHIS MORNING: Happy (early) Founding Day - 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