Saudi Arabia is reportedly making ready to cut back NEOM, its marquee ‘gigaproject’ on the Crimson Sea, with it as a substitute seeking to develop an AI information centre hub as a substitute.
According to unnamed sources cited by a report in the Financial Times, Saudi Arabia will cut back its massively bold NEOM megaproject to create a brand new livable area within the desert within the northwest of the nation, on the Crimson Coastline. The mission was introduced in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and was a cornerstone of his Imaginative and prescient 2030. It was to cowl about 26,500 sq. km, roughly the scale of Belgium (see map beneath).
The picture above, from 27 October 2024, reveals Sindalah, a luxurious island vacation spot and the primary bodily showcase of NEOM.
NEOM was due for completion in 2030 and included plans for a metropolis referred to as The Line – a row of 500m tall skyscrapers stretching for some 200km. Nevertheless NEOM suffered many delays and value overruns, in addition to criticism for potential environmental injury and being unrealistic, amongst different issues.
As well as, Saudi Arabia is internet hosting the Expo worldwide commerce truthful in 2030 and the soccer World Cup in 2034, each of which contain giant scale funding. Work on NEOM was paused in 2025 whereas the federal government checked out its choices in a year-long overview which is scheduled to conclude on this quarter.
In line with a report within the Monetary Instances, focus for the area can be extra on trade, equivalent to changing into a hub for information centres. Its location means sea water can be utilized for cooling and the Crown Prince is eager to make his nation a pacesetter in AI infrastructure – a hub for information centres to energy AI – to draw inward funding and excessive profile worldwide companions.
An unnamed supply cited by the FT stated the situation had different benefits too, equivalent to digital infrastructure and its place on the crossroad of three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe), plus nearly limitless renewable vitality and out there land.
It’s not the primary time NEOM has been touted as probably enjoying host to information centres, with DataVolt committing $5 billion DataVolt to develop a brand new 1.5 GW internet zero AI campus at NEOM’s Oxagon. That was anticipated to come back on-line in 2028, but it surely’s unknown if it’ll be impacted by the deliberate rethink for the NEOM space.
This text initially appeared on Mobile Europe, with further commentary from Knowledge Centre Assessment.
