Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) recently announced its 2026-2030 strategy, aimed at boosting returns and private sector involvement.

PIF’s over-$900B of assets under management are being organized into three portfolios, namely a Vision Portfolio focused on domestic ecosystems that can attract foreign investment, a Strategic Portfolio managing key national assets, and a Financial Portfolio covering global investments.

The six Vision Portfolio ecosystems include:

• Tourism, Travel & Entertainment

• Urban Development & Livability

• Advanced Manufacturing & Innovation

• Industrials & Logistics

• Clean Energy, Water & Renewables Infrastructure; and

• NEOM

Tourism, Travel & Entertainment

A decade ago, Saudi Arabia did not issue non-religious tourist visas, and there were limited entertainment venues. Now, having surpassed 123m tourists (30m from abroad) and a 5% tourism share of GDP in 2025, the Kingdom is now pushing towards an upgraded target of 150m tourists (at least 50m from abroad) and the sector to contribute 10% of GDP by 2030.

According to JLL, across the Kingdom, almost 95,000 hotel rooms are currently under construction or at advanced planning stages, including within the PIF’s giga-projects.

Each giga-project has been designed to create a distinct visitor proposition globally. For example, Diriyah, joined at the hip to Riyadh and centered around the 300-year-old UNESCO World Heritage Site of At-Turaif, the birthplace of the Al Saud Royal Family, is positioned as a living heritage experience that connects visitors to the Kingdom’s funding narrative.

Qiddiya City, located 40 minutes southwest of Riyadh, is positioned as the Kingdom’s entertainment, sports and arts capital, and is home to a Six Flags amusement park and Aquarabia, the largest water theme park the Middle East.

[Qiddiya]

The entertainment sector has developed rapidly since the General Entertainment Authority began licensing activities in 2016. International music acts and theatrical productions now regularly perform in Saudi venues. Sport is a core part of the entertainment strategy and the PIF’s SURJ Sports Investment is backing properties, platforms, and infrastructure that deliver commercial returns whilst driving long-term growth for the wider sports ecosystem. Global events such as the 2034 World Cup and the 6-month Expo 2030 Riyadh are now priority projects.

Esports and gaming too, are growing. Saudi Arabia staged the inaugural Esports World Cup in 2024. PIF subsidiary Savvy Games Group has invested billions in global gaming assets and PIF is leading the consortium that is proposing to acquire EA. All of this is positioning the Kingdom as a serious player in the creation, production and distribution of interactive entertainment.

[Riyadh Expo / World Cup]

Urban Development & Livability

In Diriyah, envisioned as the Kingdom’s premier lifestyle destination, homes for over 100,000 people are being built in addition to the amenities that will make it a world-leading gathering place. The city is an environmental masterpiece in the making with complex subterranean infrastructure including roads, car parks and metro stations – all designed to make sure that the city is walkable, and life above is calm and serene, untroubled by traffic, fumes or excessive noise.

[Diriyah masterplan, etc.]

ROSHN, a PIF subsidiary and the national community developer, has a remit to deliver 400,000 housing units and neighboring mixed-use projects across KSA’s main urban centers in the coming years.

Whilst initial projects are targeting KSA’s growing middle class, ROSHN’s land bank of 200 million square meters includes prime real estate locations and the company’s urban planning approach also envisions the development of premium and luxury villas, as well as gated apartment and penthouse complexes.

[ROSHN projects]

Advanced Manufacturing & Innovation

Alat, the PIF’s sustainable manufacturing champion, was established in 2024 to create a global technology manufacturing hub in Saudi Arabia powered exclusively by clean energy and generate over $9B of non-oil GDP and almost 40,000 direct jobs by 2030.

It launched with four foundational partnerships: SoftBank (industrial robotics), Carrier Corporation (intelligent climate solutions), Dahua Technology (safety and surveillance solutions and Tahakom (smart cities and mobility). Since then, Alat has added a $2B strategic collaboration with Lenovo to establish a 200,000 sqm factory and commercial production later this year, as well as an over-$185m joint venture with TK Elevator in elevator and escalator manufacturing operation.

[Alat-Lenovo]

The defense sector is one of the most significant new industries being developed under Vision 2030, and SAMI (Saudi Arabian Military Industries) is a key enabler of the Vision’s goal of localizing half of the Kingdom’s military spending. Since its establishment in 2017, SAMI has made significant progress in establishing manufacturing facilities, training native engineers and technicians, and securing contracts for domestic production.

As regards AI, PIF subsidiary HUMAIN was launched in 2025 to consolidate capital, access to competitively priced energy, regulatory backing and partnerships into Saudi participation at the frontier of global AI infrastructure. Initiatives include building gigawatt-scale data centers, the ALLAM Arabic frontier model, the HUMAIN OS agentic operating system, and partnerships with leaders such as NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Qualcomm and Cisco.

Industrials & Logistics

Historically, Saudi Arabia has secured mineral resources through international investments and offtake agreements, such as the $2.5 billion investment completed by Manara Minerals (a PIF-Ma’aden joint venture) in 2024 for a 10% stake in Vale's base metals unit, which involved not just equity but offtake rights for copper and nickel.

Saudi Arabia’s estimated mineral wealth of approximately $2.5T represents one of the most significant untapped opportunities globally and includes gold, zinc, copper, lithium, and rare earth elements.

Ma’aden, the majority PIF-owned mining company, and Hadeed, the national iron and steel champion, are central to the Kingdom’s mineral resource strategy and plans include building out the supply chain for domestic industries such as electric vehicle manufacturing, where CEER is the Kingdom’s first EV brand and OEM.

On the logistics front, King Salman International Airport is under construction and has been designed to accommodate up to 100m passengers annually and handle more than 2m tonnes of cargo by 2030. Other key initiatives under development include the Saudi Landbridge project, a 1,500km rail corridor across the Kingdom that will enable cargo to move between the Red Sea and the Gulf without transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

[Saudi logistics]

Clean Energy, Water & Renewables Infrastructure

Saudi Arabia is well-positioned for renewable and clean energy generation. The Kingdom has high year-round sun exposure and large areas of flat, undeveloped land, making utility scale solar feasible. Moreover, it experiences consistent wind patterns along its long Red Sea coastline that can support commercial wind development.

ACWA Power, the PIF-backed utilities developer, has emerged as one of the largest renewable energy developers globally. Along with Air Products and NEOM, it is developing the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project, which positions Saudi Arabia as a first mover in the green hydrogen export market.

[NGHC]

At the same time, Saudi Energy (formerly Saudi Electricity Company) is upgrading the national grid to accommodate renewable generation and implement smart grid technologies, including the deployment of battery storage systems.

The Kingdom is aiming to achieve a net-zero waste management system by 2035, with key waste streams including wastewater, construction debris, municipal waste, and agricultural sludge. Historically, over 110m tons of waste has been generated annually, including heavy use of disposable products (including single-use plastics) and limited recycling, with the majority of municipal waste disposed of, untreated, in landfills, and some incinerated.

A recycling target of 79% and a landfill diversion target of 90% by 2040 have previously been announced. The focus will be on recycling municipal waste, waste-to-energy and reprocessing construction debris, which will entail the construction of over 840 treatment and recovery facilities and significant investment in collection and cleaning technologies. Over 70,000 jobs in the waste management sector are expected to be created, and the PIF’s SIRC (Saudi Investment Recycling Company) and Marafiq (integrated utility) will be key enablers.

Saudi Arabia has recently launched a new national privatization strategy seeking to raise $64B by 2030 across more than 220 opportunities including the Saudi Landbridge Project and 13 strategic water reservoirs. The Kingdom is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water, and under Saudi Vision 2030, this essential utility function is being transformed into a platform for energy efficiency gains, industrial innovation, and exportable know-how.

NEOM

NEOM is moving to a phased delivery model with financing shifting towards more sustainable structures with increased private sector participation.

Industry and logistics remain core elements, with Oxagon (home of the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project) anchoring the project as a Red Sea logistics hub. In addition, NEOM is seen as strategically suitable for data centers, with cooling facilitated by its abundant seawater. Based on the latest public reporting, a $5B partnership with DataVolt signed last year to build a 1.5GW net-zero AI data center campus is still operational, with Oxagon to contribute land and core infrastructure and DataVolt the development financing and operating capabilities.