From energy to technology: Key areas of economic partnership between Saudi Arabia and US

Economic relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States are marked by significant diversity, with the partnership spanning across a wide range of vital sectors that serve as key foundations for driving growth and investment.

Cooperation in traditional and renewable energy stands out among the most important areas, alongside expanding investments in advanced technology, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

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Coordination is also deepening in cybersecurity, military industries, and technology transfer, in addition to growing collaboration in supply chains, strategic minerals, and logistics infrastructure.

Trade and joint investments form a central pillar of the relationship between Riyadh and Washington, with an increasing presence of American companies in Saudi Vision 2030 projects. There has also been a notable development in healthcare, education, innovation, tourism and entertainment. This diversity reflects the scale of the strategic relationship between the two countries and its role in supporting global economic stability.

The Saudi Royal Court announced on Monday that Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman departed for the United States on an official working visit, a move that may open the door to major economic partnerships between the two nations.

The visit comes at the direction of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and in response to an invitation extended to the Crown Prince by US President Donald Trump. The two sides are set to discuss bilateral relations, ways to strengthen them across various fields, and issues of mutual interest.

Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said Washington is preparing to host a new edition of the US–Saudi Investment Forum 2025, with high expectations for expanding cooperation between the two countries.

In a post on X, al-Falih wrote that the forum reflects the shared commitment to strengthening strategic partnerships in sectors shaping the future of the global economy.

He added that the event focuses on exchanging expertise and expanding investments to enhance integration, development, and new investment opportunities that will define the next phase.

During Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia last May, the two countries signed the Strategic Economic Partnership Document aimed at strengthening cooperation in key sectors.

Saudi Investments in the United States

Saudi Arabia and the United States are working on economic partnership opportunities valued at $600 billion, including agreements worth more than $300 billion announced during Trump’s visit to Riyadh. The Crown Prince and the US President plan to finalize the second phase of agreements, raising the total to one trillion dollars.

These new investments include purchases by both the public and private sectors. Recent estimates suggest that Saudi investments in the United States exceed $770 billion.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which manages assets exceeding $940 billion, plays a major role in the investment relationship with the US.

Its portfolio of American publicly listed companies reached $27 billion by the end of Q4 2024, while Saudi investments in U.S. Treasury bonds stood at nearly $127 billion dollars in January 2025.

Trade Partnership

Saudi Arabia is the United States’ largest trading partner in the Middle East. The volume of trade between the two countries from 2013 to 2024 amounted to about $500 billion, while Saudi non-oil exports alone reached roughly $82 billion last year.

According to data from the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, total trade between the Kingdom and the US exceeded 603 billion riyals ($160.8 billion) over the past five years ending in 2024.

Saudi exports to the US reached around 278 billion riyals during the past five years, rising from 31 billion riyals in 2020 to 53.5 billion riyals in 2021 to 87.1 billion riyals in 2022 and then to 58.49 billion riyals in 2023, and to 47.95 billion riyals in 2024.

As for Saudi imports from the US, the data shows they totaled 325 billion riyals over the five-year period, increasing from 55.1 billion riyals in 2020 to 73.74 billion riyals in 2024.

According to US Census Bureau data, bilateral goods trade between the two countries amounted to nearly $6 billion. Saudi exports to the US in Q1 2025 reached $2.974 billion, compared to $3.289 billion in the same quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, Saudi imports from the US reached $3.021 billion in Q1 2025, compared to $3.233 billion in the same period the year before.

American Companies in the Kingdom

Under Vision 2030, international companies have increasingly established their regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, with more than 600 businesses setting up their main offices in the Kingdom. Many of these are American firms, including major banks such as Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs, as well as companies like PepsiCo and Bechtel. Tech giants Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have also announced plans to follow.

In earlier remarks, the Saudi investment minister said economic ties between Saudi Arabia and the US have been built on trust and a spirit of partnership grounded in mutual respect and shared economic interests across all sectors.

He noted that there are investment opportunities for companies in both countries across energy, mining, industry, construction, development, renewable energy, and other fields.

He also pointed to opportunities in biotechnology, tourism, hospitality, financial services, artificial intelligence, data storage, and cloud computing.

During the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference held in Miami last February, al-Falih emphasized that the United States is Saudi Arabia’s top destination for foreign investments and is also the leading source of foreign investment coming into the Kingdom.

Al-Falih explained that 25 percent of the foreign direct investments in the Kingdom came from the United States, noting the role that foreign companies have played in Saudi Arabia over nine decades.

Al-Falih explained that Saudi investments in the United States now exceed $750 billion, adding that the Kingdom is prepared to increase these investments from both the public and private sectors by an additional $600 billion over the next four years, including increased imports from the American market.

Aramco and the United States

In May, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser announced that the company will invest $3.4 billion to expand its refinery in the United States, reflecting Aramco’s commitment to strengthening its global presence, especially in integrated energy.

Speaking at the Saudi–US Investment Forum, Nasser confirmed that Aramco will sign an agreement with US firm Sempra to supply 6.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually as part of the company’s expansion strategy in this vital sector.

Aramco and its subsidiaries also signed 34 memoranda of understanding and agreements with major American companies across various fields, with a potential value nearing $90 billion.

According to Aramco, the MoUs and agreements signed during the forum cover cooperation in a range of activities related to Aramco’s operations, including LNG, fuels, chemicals, emissions-reduction technologies, artificial intelligence, digital solutions, manufacturing, financial asset management, short-term cash investments, and procurement of materials, equipment, and services.

The list of agreements includes partnerships with major US entities such as Honeywell UOP, Afton Chemical, ExxonMobil, Sempra Infrastructure, Woodside Energy, NextDecade, Amazon, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Guardian Glass, PIMCO, State Street, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

Security Cooperation

US President Donald Trump approved the sale of American F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia ahead of his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is visiting Washington today.

The US President said: “We will sell the fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, and we’ll look into signing a security agreement with Saudi Arabia, our wonderful ally, as I am planning for that. They hold great respect and appreciation for us.”

Riyadh had requested to purchase about 48 F-35 aircraft. Reuters previously reported that the request had passed an important stage at the Pentagon, which had reviewed the deal for months before elevating it to the level of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Public Investment Fund (PIF)

The United States is a primary destination for the Public Investment Fund, which allocates around 40 percent of its global investments to the American market. This reflects confidence in the innovation capacity of the US economy, particularly in high-growth sectors such as technology and artificial intelligence, which facilitate knowledge transfer and expertise exchange.

A few days ago, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed ways to strengthen PIF investments in the United States during a meeting with PIF Governor Yasir al-Rumayyan.

Bessent wrote on X: “We discussed the Public Investment Fund’s opportunities to expand its investments in the United States, support economic growth, and build strong ties between our two countries.”

Artificial Intelligence

The AI sector is one of the most important areas of cooperation between the Kingdom and the United States. Riyadh aims to secure deals in artificial intelligence as part of its ambitious Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy and strengthen its position in this field.

Securing approval to acquire advanced computing chips is critical for Saudi Arabia’s plan to become a leading hub in AI.

Reports indicated that the United States and Saudi Arabia have made significant progress in discussions on an upcoming agreement that would allow American chips companies to export advanced semiconductors to Saudi Arabia.

These discussions began last May after the US President spoke of potential agreements involving Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to use chips for data centers dedicated to training AI models. This move aligns with the US administration’s strategy to expand its tech exports and strengthen the global presence of American companies, according to a previous report in The Wall Street Journal.

Through the National Strategy for Data and Artificial Intelligence, Saudi Arabia aims to rank among the world’s top 15 AI-leading nations, attract investments worth nearly 75 billion riyals in data and AI, and train more than 20,000 specialists and experts in these fields.

Read more: Saudi Crown Prince to begin official US visit