Economy & Business
Business news, economic analysis, fintech innovations, startup ecosystems, and market trends shaping Saudi Arabia's digital economy and Vision 2030.
DP World Jeddah Adds Three Quay Cranes to Boost Red Sea Trade Capacity
DP World Jeddah has added three semi-automated quay cranes at Jeddah Islamic Port, part of an $800 million modernisation programme targeting 5 million TEUs in future capacity.
Cisco’s Espen Løberg to Deliver InfoComm 2026 Keynote on Connected Workplace Intelligence
Cisco’s Espen Løberg will deliver the InfoComm 2026 keynote at the Las Vegas Convention Center, focusing on Connected Intelligence for modern workplaces. The event runs June 13–19, 2026.
Gensler AI Workplace Research: Saudi Employees Spend 52% of Work Week in Office
Gensler’s Global Workplace Survey 2026 finds Saudi employees spend 52% of their work week in the office, while AI users dedicate more time to collaboration and learning than their peers.
AWS Bahrain Region Disrupted Again by Drone Activity Amid Middle East Conflict
Amazon confirmed its AWS Bahrain region was disrupted by drone activity on March 23, 2026, the second such incident this month amid the Middle East conflict.
io.net Launches Agent Compute, Letting AI Agents Provision Their Own GPU Resources
io.net launched Agent Compute on March 25, 2026, enabling AI agents to provision GPU resources independently. The platform offers compute at up to 70% lower cost than traditional cloud providers.
Apple Launches Apple Business Platform on April 14 with Device Management, Email, and Maps Ads
Apple will launch Apple Business on April 14 in 200+ countries, consolidating device management, business email, and Maps advertising into one free platform. The service replaces Apple Business Connect, Essentials, and Manager.
Ad
PangaeaX Launches Tech Talent Initiative to Strengthen UAE Digital Workforce
PangaeaX has launched a tech talent initiative using challenge-based performance assessment to help UAE organizations identify and verify skilled data professionals.
European Quantum Funding Gap: Investor Warns Europe Risks Repeating AI Mistakes
Europe attracts only 5% of global private quantum funding versus 50% in the US, as Brussels prepares a Quantum Act. An investor warns the bloc must act now to avoid repeating its AI mistakes.
Sungrow Hydrogen Ships Green Hydrogen Systems to Oman, Italy, and Brazil
Sungrow Hydrogen has shipped green hydrogen systems to Oman, Italy, and Brazil, covering three continents with projects ranging from 3 MW to 160 MW in capacity.
Elon Musk Announces Terafab Project: A $20 Billion Chip Manufacturing Facility in Austin
Elon Musk announced the Terafab project, a $20 billion joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI to build a chip manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.
Tencent ClawBot Connects WeChat With OpenClaw AI Agent
Tencent has launched ClawBot, integrating WeChat with the OpenClaw AI agent. The move comes as the company reported CNY 751.8 billion in full-year 2025 revenue.
Eid Al-Fitr Travel Demand Rises in Saudi Arabia as Jeddah, AlUla, and Abha Lead Domestic Destinations
Booking data shows a notable rise in domestic travel demand across Saudi Arabia for Eid Al-Fitr 2026, with Jeddah, AlUla, and Abha emerging as top destinations. Hotel prices start from SAR 513.75 per night.
Bank Muscat Launches Oman’s First Banking Command Center with Dynatrace, Cuts Incident Detection Time by 80%
Bank Muscat deployed the Dynatrace platform to launch Oman’s first banking Command Center, cutting incident detection time by over 80% and consolidating 20+ monitoring tools into one platform.
BHM Capital Reports 26.65% Revenue Growth and AED 2.01 Billion in Total Assets for 2025
BHM Capital posted AED 205.98 million in total revenue for 2025, a 26.65% year-on-year increase, while total assets crossed AED 2 billion. The firm also captured 40.45% of all new trading accounts opened on the Dubai Financial Market.
OpenAI Plans Desktop Superapp to Merge ChatGPT, Codex, and Atlas Browser
OpenAI plans to merge ChatGPT, Codex, and the Atlas browser into a single desktop superapp, citing fragmentation and competitive pressure from Anthropic.
Study Estimates AdaKami Fintech Lending Platform Contributed Up to $649 Million to Indonesia’s GDP
A University of Indonesia study estimates that AdaKami’s loan disbursements contributed up to $649 million to Indonesia’s GDP in 2024, supporting employment for up to 78,000 people across 17 sectors.
Netcracker Digital OSS Upgrade Powers BICS Operations Support Modernization
BICS, a Proximus Global subsidiary, will upgrade its Netcracker Digital OSS deployment as part of a strategic modernization program covering all core OSS components. The initiative targets stability, security, and long-term platform support for wholesale and carrier services.
MARSS Signs $190M MoU with Nigerian Ministry of Defence for AI-Powered C4I Programme
MARSS has signed a $190 million MoU with Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence to deliver an AI-powered C4I national defence programme. The deal, signed in London on 19 March 2026, is among the largest defence programmes ever commissioned in Africa.
Xiaomi MiMo-V2-Pro: A 1-Trillion Parameter Model Challenging Western AI Leaders on Cost and Performance
Xiaomi released MiMo-V2-Pro, a 1-trillion parameter AI model, on March 18, 2026, ranking 10th globally on Artificial Analysis’s Intelligence Index at roughly one-seventh the cost of comparable Western models.
World Happiness Day 2026: How Happiness at Work Drives Productivity and Creativity
A University of Oxford study found that happiness at work raises employee productivity by an average of 13%. Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Arab world in the 2021 World Happiness Report, reflecting Vision 2030 priorities.
Microsoft Unifies Consumer and Business Copilot Teams in Major Reorganization
Microsoft is merging its consumer and commercial Copilot teams under a single leadership structure. The move aims to create a unified product experience as the company works to boost adoption against rivals like ChatGPT and Gemini.
Mistral Forge Lets Enterprises Train AI Models on Their Own Proprietary Data
Mistral AI has launched Mistral Forge, a system that allows enterprises to train AI models on their own proprietary data, internal codebases, and operational records.