Saudi Arabia is ranked among the ten countries with the largest scale of private investment in artificial intelligence, according to the World Bank Group’s World Development Report 2026.
SPA reported that the report, titled “The Promise of AI,” also identifies the Kingdom as a major destination for AI talent and notes its representative model in government data integration.
The report focuses on three main areas regarding AI’s impact on development: the capabilities provided by AI, including decision support and expanded access to expertise; the concentration effect caused by the production of data centers, chips, and advanced models in a few companies and countries; and supporting factors such as skills, data, infrastructure, and institutions.
The World Bank noted that Saudi Arabia has established a national development model by combining economic special zones and tax incentives to build computing capacity and attract data center investment. This model integrates capital attraction with an AI ecosystem that includes infrastructure, energy, startups, talent, and the development of AI applications.