Saudi Arabia’s Strategic Investments in the US

The agreements involve a lot of multinational companies which, under pressure from their respective governments, have signed mutual cooperation agreements in the commercial sector.

The aforementioned agreements include collaborations among companies like Aramco, ACWA Power, and Saudi Electricity Company with ExxonMobil, GE Vernova, Baker Hughes, and SLB. These new commitments build on the major projects and investments that Aramco and SABIC already hold in the United States.

The latest Saudi–U.S. agreements are designed to deepen long-term cooperation in clean energy, technology localization, and the Circular Carbon Economy, while expanding Saudi Arabia’s strengths to include liquefied natural gas (LNG) development.

As concerns Defense, one of the most important projects is represented by Saudia’s agreement with GE Aerospace to deploy the GEnx-1B engine on new Boeing 787 aircraft and localize engine maintenance through Saudia Technic, creating jobs in both countries and strengthening industrial capability.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia and United States have ratified a joint declaration on civil nuclear energy that ‘creates the legal basis for multibillion-dollar cooperation for several decades’ and ‘is conducted in accordance with strict non-proliferation standards,’ the White House emphasized. In addition, Donald Trump ‘approved a major arms sales deal, which includes future deliveries of F-35s,’ advanced American fighter jets.

As concerns Technology, Saudi Arabia and US agreed to deliver many projects to the biggest technology companies. Projects plan to implement multi-gigawatt computing capacity, including 150,000 AWS GPUs, a 500 MW xAI deployment, and a 2 GW AI super-cluster for Luma AI, supported by new mega-data-centre campuses powered by NVIDIA GB300 technology. Together they position the Kingdom as a global AI production hub.

As concerns Infrastructure the Public Investment Fund (PIF), New Murabba, and the Al-Madinah Region Development Authority, in collaboration with Silverstein Properties and JLL will deliver sustainable urban growth, create smart, connected cities, and showcase the shared U.S.–Saudi commitment to innovation, investment, and environmental stewardship.

Important agreements were concluded between US and Saudi Arabia on Healthcare. In detail, a very important partnership was signed between the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) and Mass General Brigham (Harvard University) focusing on biotech, digital health, and medical education. The aforementioned partnership will elevate healthcare delivery, strengthen research and talent development. The goal is to place Riyadh as a global hub for advanced care and medical innovation.

The bilateral relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. has historically been influenced by their shared concern over Iran’s influence and regional ambitions, generating a kind of shared rivalry, with the United States supporting Saudi Arabia in containing Tehran. This dynamic has further strengthened the strategic bond. This strengthening allows Saudi Arabia to have a key partner like the U.S., which wields dominant influence over numerous states, while, on the other hand, it allows the U.S. to host significant investments, which was the goal Trump set from the moment he took office. Furthermore, this way Washington secures a new ally in the Middle East. In fact, Saudi Arabia has been named the primary non-NATO ally of the United States. The major non-NATO ally (MNNA) status is a special designation that the United States grants to certain countries that are not part of the Atlantic Alliance, but that They maintain a very close strategic cooperation with the USA.

This recognition grants MNNA countries several military and economic advantages, such as: Facilitated access to the sale and transfer of weapons from the United States; Priority in participating in military research and technological development projects; Participation in certain counterterrorism initiatives; Priority delivery of military surpluses. It should be noted, however, that MNNA status does not imply mutual defense obligations as in NATO, but it strengthens multilateral security ties and American strategic cooperation with these countries in geopolitical and military contexts of interest to Washington. Globally, there are 20 countries that enjoy this status, including Australia, Japan, Israel, Qatar, and South Korea.

After the signing of the agreements that bring Saudi Arabia’s direct investments in the United States to 600 billion dollars, Riyadh has already announced that following the success of these investments, the total amount will reach 1 trillion dollars. This figure is significant in terms of business analysis, but it is even more important from a strategic and geopolitical perspective because, in this way, Saudi Arabia ensures the protection of the global policeman.

By Domenico Greco