Saudi Arabia best fit for global tech and electronics manufacturing hub: Alat CEO
Saudi Arabia’s strategic location, abundant resources and drive for technology has made it the best contender to become a global hub for technology and electronics manufacturing, the CEO of newly launched Alat company said on Tuesday.
Alat, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) company, nevertheless, has a main headline at its core: Sustainability.
As the Kingdom targets a net-zero emissions by 2060, Alat’s focus will be on providing sustainable manufacturing solutions for international companies that it will partner with by accessing clean energy resources in Saudi Arabia.
With solar, wind and green hydrogen clean energy resources available, Alat will look to take advantage and employ clean energy to transform businesses and manufacturing as well as apply sustainable measures to its operations, logistics and buildings.
“We believe that clean energy will [continuously] become more prevalent across the world. But initially, we can use clean energy within the Kingdom to develop our industry as well,” Alat CEO Amit Midha said, speaking on the sidelines of the company’s official launching event.
Midha noted that the Ministry of Energy is the company’s main partner in this regard where it has “committed [to] and supporting fully about our need for clean energy across all, industrial parks.”
He added:
“We have clean energy; we have the land and the sun. We have the capital and now we have talent,” he said, noting that there is a chance for change and a chance to empower the Kingdom’s position as a main player in the global supply chain.
Alat was launched in early February and is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also PIF’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.
It will focus on manufacturing products that serve local and international markets within seven key strategic business units: advanced industrials, semiconductors, smart appliances, smart health, smart devices, smart buildings and next generation infrastructure.
“Many of the things we’re working through are to ensure that if you have a fresh start with no legacy, why not start the best possible way?… So, you know, this is what we want to say. Legacy free, leapfrogging and sort of reimagining and sort of making tomorrow better,” Midha said.
Vision 2030
With economic diversification beyond oil a main cornerstone for the Saudi Crown Prince’s Vision 2030, Alat aims to be a contributor to the goals of this vision.
It aims to enable industrial development, innovation and job creation with plans to invest $100 billion by 2030 to enhance the capabilities of the technological sector, benefiting from this sector’s rapid development in the Kingdom.
The company is looking to create 39,000 direct jobs in Saudi Arabia by 2030 and achieve a direct non-oil GDP contribution of $9.3 billion by the same year.
The Saudi government’s support for Alat is vital to the company’s success, Midha underscored.
“The government is behind us, and we can make great things happen,” he said. He pointed to the important cooperation between PIF, the ministries of Investment, Industry and Education and Alat to bring the vision to life.
The Ministry of Investment is helping with incentives to land and others, while the Ministry of Industry is helping develop industrial parks. The Ministry of Education will help to develop the talent, Midha said. “So… ministers…are an integral part of a journey.”
Alat announces four partnerships
During the official press conference, Alat announced four partnerships with global companies to rapidly progress technology manufacturing in Saudi Arabia.
They will be collaborating with Softbank Group, Carrier Corporation, Dahua Technology and Tahakom and will deliver sustainable manufacturing to help these companies reduce their emissions and move towards carbon zero manufacturing.
For instance, Alat’s joint venture with SoftBank Group that will manufacture “industrial robots for a wide variety of industrial manufacturing and assembly processes.”
The partners will invest up to $150 million to establish a fully automated manufacturing and engineering hub in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh that will serve local and global demand.
The first factory is slated to open in December 2024.
“With this initial set-up, we predict a contribution of $1 billion to Saudi Arabia’s GDP by 2025,” Midha said in a statement. “Our ambition is to fundamentally transform industrial manufacturing by robots, manufactured in the Kingdom.”
