In a major reset, Saudi Arabia is quietly shrinking its desert city of the future. NEOM and its signature linear city THE LINE are being redesigned as a much smaller project built around data centers instead of a 170 kilometer strip of housing.

In 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman introduced NEOM, a futuristic city designed to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil and diversify its economy. The heart of NEOM lies in “THE LINE,” a 170-kilometer-long linear city intended to house nine million people. This city promises to be a model of sustainability, featuring zero-emissions architecture, green spaces and renewable energy. NEOM’s vision is to establish Saudi Arabia as a global hub for business and innovation. However, despite its groundbreaking design, the project is not without its challenges.

Savvy Games Group and NEOM announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to streamline the journey of Saudi gaming startups from incubation to acceleration, aiming to strengthen the Kingdom’s end-to-end gaming ecosystem and advance the goals of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy under Saudi Vision 2030.

Saudi Arabia has announced a new $40 billion technology investment fund aimed at artificial intelligence, signaling what may be the most aggressive single bet any nation has placed on a post-oil future. The fund, created in partnership with US-based Andreessen Horowitz, will channel capital into AI infrastructure, semiconductor supply chains, and advanced computing over the coming years.

Apptunix , a global mobile and AI development firm, is expanding its enterprise digital capabilities to support organizations across Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom accelerates its Vision 2030 digital transformation initiatives. The company is increasingly recognized for its engineering expertise and Saudi-focused delivery approach, providing secure, scalable, and AI-driven applications tailored to local market needs.

Saudi Arabia's state-backed artificial intelligence firm Humain said Wednesday it had invested $3 billion in US billionaire Elon Musk's xAI. The investment made Humain a "significant minority shareholder", the company said in a statement. It added that its xAI holdings would be "converted into SpaceX shares" after the rocket company announced it was taking over the AI start-up earlier this month as Musk pushes to unify his many business interests.

The slump in Middle East work is hitting UK firms and, increasingly, their staff, who are now feeling the pain as practices make tough commercial decisions In late November Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) was informed that a ‘major’ resort it was working on had been cancelled. The scheme, which the AJ understands was in the Red Sea area, employed around half the Danish architecture firm’s UK workforce. Whatever its exact location, the unnamed project is one of the schemes, many of them in Saudi Arabia, impacted by spending reviews, delays and recalibrations.