PIF signed an MoU with ISquared Capital for up to $2bn, roughly $1bn each into digital infrastructureand district cooling, the unglamorous enablers behind real estate and datacenters
The takeaway: $1bn into digital infrastructure is a wager on compute demand; anyone in power, land, or connectivity near Riyadh should price a data-center boom into their plans.
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Cash falls, cards rise
Saudi consumer spending reached SAR 144.95 billion in July 2026, up 8% from SAR 134.51 billion in July 2025. Point-of-sale spending was SAR 62.85 billion, up 7%, across 1.096 billion transactions on 2.5 million terminals. E-commerce through Mada cards rose 26% to SAR 37.63 billion across 197.6 million transactions, while cash withdrawals from 14,400 ATMs fell 3% to SAR 44.47 billion. There are 70.12 million issued bank cards.
The change involves switching from one channel to another, which means that if you are running a business aimed at consumers you should shift your investments from cash handling to digital acceptance rather than considering both as part of growth.
SAR 159.1 billion came in
Foreign direct investment inflows into Saudi Arabia rose 33.5% in 2025 to SAR 159.1 billion, from SAR 119.2 billion in 2024, GASTAT data show, while outflows rose 98.5% to SAR 77.7 billion, so net FDI rose only 1.7% to SAR 81.4 billion. By activity, construction drew the largest inflows at SAR 34.5 billion, followed by manufacturing at SAR 33.4 billion; by country, Luxembourg recorded the highest net inflows at SAR 24.4 billion, followed by the UAE at SAR 9.4 billion.
According to GASTAT, outflows mean foreign investors are reducing their stakes in Saudi companies by repaying loans, taking dividends, or exiting, rather than Saudi money leaving the country. Since net FDI is nearly unchanged, anyone presenting investment momentum to a board should focus on the net figure instead of just the inflow.
Saudi carries half of Gulf tourism
Saudi Arabia's travel and tourism sector contributed $178 billion to the economy in 2025, 46% of the entire Middle East's travel and tourism economy, growing 7.4%, nearly double the global rate of 4.1%, with international visitor spending up 8.2% against a 3.2% global rate.
Nearly half of the entire region's tourism economy now lies in Saudi Arabia, growing at twice the global rate, a shift large enough that the map of Middle Eastern travel needs to be redrawn before the guidebooks catch up.
