"No one is surprised that Neom - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's $1.5 trillion-with-a-t plan to build a futuristic megacity smack dab in the middle of the desert - has turned out to be a disaster. Its centerpiece was supposed to be a towering skyscraper called The Line, over 100 miles in length, that could accommodate millions of people, something that the laws of reality always suggested would be impossible to pull off."
"It's a proposal that reeks of a Saudi leadership desperate to find a way out of the multibillion dollar hole it's dug for itself, as the dysfunctional monarchy rushes to follow what everyone else is doing and cash in on the AI race. But royal insiders briefed on the matter insist that, actually, it's a testament to how flexible the Saudi government is."
"The pivot was proposed as Riyadh wraps up its year-long review of Neom's progress, and continues a pattern of belt-tightening across the government's myriad, exorbitantly expensive investments - which include everything from buying up entire sports leagues and teams to competitive video games. Ostensibly to diversify the country's oil-dependent economy, they're now becoming more burdensome as oil prices have been in steady decline, leaving the kingdom's purportedly trillion dollar Public Investment Fund low on cash."
Neom was conceived as a $1.5 trillion megacity with The Line, a 100-mile skyscraper meant to house millions, but proved impractical. Saudi officials are considering downsizing the linear city concept and repurposing the site as a data-center hub to recover costs and pursue AI-related revenue. Declining oil prices have strained the Public Investment Fund and prompted government belt-tightening across costly acquisitions, including sports leagues and esports. Neom's proximity to the Gulf of Aqaba presents potential advantages for data-center cooling, and some insiders frame the pivot as an adjustment of national development goals.
Read at Futurism
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