While others debate, Saudi Arabia builds and adjusts

Saudi Arabia is often viewed through the spectacle of its megaprojects. But renderings obscure the deeper story: the Kingdom is restoring a capability many advanced economies have lost, namely the ability to plan in decades while adjusting course in real time. In an era where long-term governance has eroded, this capacity is increasingly rare.

Across the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, governments struggle to turn ambition into delivery. California’s high-speed rail has consumed 16 years and more than $10 billion without producing a single operating line. Germany’s industrial and energy policy shifts with coalition politics. The UK has cycled through five prime ministers in eight years as major infrastructure projects stall in endless consultations. Policy continuity, once a Western hallmark, has frayed.

Saudi Arabia’s trajectory since launching Vision 2030 in 2016 offers a stark contrast. Non-oil gross domestic product has grown between 4 percent and 5 percent annually since 2017. Tourism exceeded 100 million visits last year, reaching the 2030 target early. Female labor participation has risen from 19 percent to more than 34 percent. Regulations have been modernized, mining has attracted billions, logistics capacity has expanded, and the Kingdom is positioning itself as a leading regional hub for advanced digital infrastructure. These gains reflect coordinated execution.

Equally important, the government has shown discipline in adjusting strategy. It has revised or downsized several major initiatives to avoid overstretching capacity and to protect fiscal balance. Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan summarized this approach when he said the Kingdom has “no ego whatsoever” and will accelerate, delay or cancel projects “without blinking” when necessary.

This approach differs sharply from, for example, China, which spent decades building ahead of demand. The result is several trillion dollars in wasted investment. Saudi Arabia, by contrast, has shown it will adjust direction before projects become structural liabilities.

Flexibility has become even more valuable as artificial intelligence reshapes the economics of energy and industry. While public debate often focuses on skylines, a quieter transformation is underway. AI development is increasingly constrained not by chips or talent but by electricity. In Northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center hub, utilities warn that new gigawatt-scale connections may take years. In Europe, electricity prices of 15 cents to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour make large-scale model training prohibitively expensive.

In a global environment where delays translate into strategic disadvantage, speed has become a competitive asset.

Ali Shihabi

Saudi Arabia offers a different model. Instead of exporting energy alone, the Kingdom is beginning to host the computation that energy powers. Solar electricity in the country costs around 1 cent per kWh, compared with 7 cents to 9 cents for US industrial consumers. For AI workloads that demand enormous and scalable power, locating computing resources where energy is cheap and abundant is simply logical. It also reduces pressure on saturated Western grids.

This shift has already begun. A 500-MW data center is being built in the Kingdom by xAI. A joint venture with AMD and Cisco aims for up to 1 GW of capacity by 2030. Adobe and Qualcomm are deploying generative AI workloads optimized for regional markets. Blackstone has committed $3 billion to AI-focused data warehouses. Aramco Digital and Groq are targeting inference speeds of 1 billion tokens per second. National data center capacity is projected to grow from about 350 MW today to 1.3 GW by 2030.

Saudi Arabia does not claim technological primacy. It relies on American chips, Western algorithms and global expertise. But it provides what the AI economy now values most: abundant power, the rapid issuance of permits and strong political will. The Kingdom can build digital and industrial capacity quickly and predictably while remaining aligned with US technology and security standards. In a global environment where delays translate into strategic disadvantage, speed has become a competitive asset.

These differences in state capability are already influencing global capital flows. Multinational firms increasingly seek jurisdictions that offer clarity, durability and reliable implementation. Saudi Arabia has positioned itself as one of the few emerging economies that can provide these conditions. The presence of large numbers of global CEOs at Saudi investment forums reflects this reality.

Risks remain. Overspending and execution challenges must be managed and institutions must continue to evolve. But the broader pattern is unmistakable. At a time when many governments struggle to look beyond immediate pressures, Saudi Arabia is reviving the ability to think in decades while adjusting quickly as circumstances shift. In a world where long-term governance has become the exception rather than the norm, this combination of strategic ambition and disciplined course correction is becoming one of the Kingdom’s most significant competitive advantages.

• Ali Shihabi is an author and commentator on the politics and economics of Saudi Arabia. X: @aliShihabi