Fielding a question from Chinese state media on Sunday, a senior government official from Saudi Arabia touted a “great wave” of scientific innovation emerging from China, and pledged the two countries would further deepen their ties, Xinhua reported.
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Xinhua → field → ties
The press conference in Riyadh kicked off LEAP, a major technology event, earlier this week.
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conference → kick → LEAP
In the days since, a flood of deals have been announced to bring Chinese robotaxis, laptops, AI models, and data centers to the kingdom — while putting the competition for tech dominance between China and the US into stark relief.
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flood → announce → relief
Once viewed only as a source of capital, today Saudi Arabia is enticing technology companies to come and do business.
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Arabia → view → business
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pouring billions of dollars into developing a domestic tech ecosystem under his Vision 2030 program, even as some mega-projects are delayed.
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projects → pour → program
The young, gaming- and smartphone-obsessed population has a huge appetite for apps and computing power.
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population → obsess → apps
The Gulf “is of vital importance for China’s tech outreach,” James Kynge, senior research fellow for China and the world at Chatham House, told Semafor.
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Kynge → tell → Semafor
“It is a really important focal point for China to show the whole world, not just the region, that its tech is often better to buy and to operate than US tech.
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tech → show → tech
It’s a crucial node that shows the world that Chinese tech can go around the world and out-compete American tech.”
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tech → ’ → tech
In a departure from business strategies of the past, this current cohort of Chinese companies has a mandate to expand internationally, according to academic Karim Alwadi, based in Beijing.
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cohort → have → Beijing
The Gulf is an attractive destination as a gateway market to the Global South as well as a place to draw capital, Alwadi said in an interview.
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Alwadi → draw → interview
State-backed funds and family offices have an appetite to co-invest, which can reduce the heavy cost burden of high-tech industries, and is something that isn’t as available in China, he added.
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he → back → China
“People don’t appreciate how big this is, it’s a tsunami,” he said.
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he → appreciate → ?
The deals announced this week highlighted an array of AI-centric products and services: WeRide will add more robotaxis in Riyadh (up to 10,000); Public Investment Fund’s HUMAIN has commissioned an Arabic-language model from China’s MiniMax; and China’s Tencent Cloud secured a Saudi operating license to serve clients in government and finance, a move that will build on $150 million the tech giant has invested so far in the kingdom.
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giant → announce → kingdom
Meanwhile, hardware maker Lenovo is on track to begin mass production of a laptop (unveiled at LEAP) in Riyadh by the end of the year.
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Lenovo → begin → year
The industry is still dominated by US companies: AWS, for one, is building $5.3 billion worth of data centers in the kingdom.
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AWS → dominate → kingdom
, HUMAIN will not allow Chinese frontier AI models to be trained on its compute capacity.
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models → allow → capacity
Instead, its CEO said the firm will offer access to Chinese open-source models on its Saudi data centers.
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firm → say → centers
“The march of Chinese technology, particularly in areas like AI and telecoms, is spreading through the Global South very quickly,” Kynge said.
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Kynge → spread → South
They’ll look to Gulf countries and say, ‘we want that: cheap, high tech, and the Chinese are on it.’
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Chinese → look → it
Notable
- In a dance between investment and domestic growth, HUMAIN will tie checks to computing power in Saudi Arabia as it plans its new, massive venture capital fund, its CEO told Semafor.
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CEO → tie → Semafor
- Chinese EV maker Rox Motors has started making cars in Abu Dhabi and plans to unveil its first UAE-designed car next year, AGBI reported.
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AGBI → start → car
The Aporia
