Chinese tech companies plant deeper roots in Saudi Arabia
Companies including ByteDance and Tencent announced investment in the kingdom during Riyadh’s annual LEAP tech conference.
The LEAP technology conference in Riyadh has seen Chinese firms expanding their presence in the kingdom. BytePlus, ByteDance’s enterprise cloud arm, is collaborating with Saudi telecom operator Mobily to construct the Middle East’s inaugural physical cloud infrastructure in Riyadh. Tencent Cloud has obtained a Saudi operating license to cater to government and finance clients, a move bolstered by $150 million in investments the tech giant has made in the country so far, according to EnterpriseAM.
Lenovo is set to commence mass production of a laptop unveiled at LEAP in Riyadh by year-end. These developments may garner attention in Washington, where the Trump administration has enticed the Gulf with advanced chips while imposing conditions to prevent Chinese tech firms from gaining a foothold. Despite this, American Big Tech companies are showing interest.
Elon Musk’s xAI revealed at LEAP its plans to establish its first data center outside the US in Saudi Arabia.
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