Saudi Arabia beckons financial elite at FII

Saudi Arabia hosted the ninth edition of the Future Investment Initiative, welcoming over 9,000 delegates. 

The forum, in its ninth edition, has stood out as an eminent investment and strategic partnerships platform, having helped seal more than $250 billion in deals since inception. 

This year’s event closed on a message of determination and optimism, a new era driven by AI, human ingenuity and a shared belief of progress. 

More than half of the year’s speakers hailed from the technology sector, reflecting how the world is gravitating towards a tech-centric, AI-powered world. 

Private equity is the new economic driver
Investors agreed that private capital — valued at over $13 trillion and projected to surpass $20 trillion within five years — has become the world’s new economic backbone.

Recalibrating the new AI frontier
Philip Johnston of Starcloud announced the launch of the world’s first AI data center in space, powered by SpaceX’s 100x reduction in launch costs. 

“We can now train AI off-planet — cooled by the cosmos,” he said.

Eric Jang of 1X Technologies revealed plans to deploy 100,000 humanoid robots by 2027, marking what he called “the dawn of robots building robots.”

Empowering entrepreneurs
Startups operating in sectors such as AI-designed medicine, diagnostic health, humanoid robotics, and sovereign computing, captivated investors. 

CEO of Saudi Arabia’s National Technology Development Program (NTDP) Ibrahim Abdulaziz Neyaz pledged continued support to “enable creative entrepreneurs from around the world to serve humanity.”

Saudi Arabia: the new investment capital 
Yazeed Alhumied of Saudi sovereign fund PIF announced that Saudi Arabia’s asset management industry has exceeded SAR1 trillion in assets under management, propelled by product innovation, global partnerships, and talent development.

Chairman of the Capital Markets Authority Mohammed El-Kuwaiz revealed that private capital is now the fastest-growing segment of Saudi finance, expanding at nearly twice the industry rate, with private credit assets more than doubling in recent years.

Executives from Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, State Street, and PIF discussed the rapid rise of private credit, ETFs, and quantitative investing — with Goldman’s Dennis Walsh calling the kingdom “one of the most exciting emerging markets in the world for data-driven alpha.”