The oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now hatching some plans to future-proof its oil-dependent economy as the global demand for energy source shifts to renewables. Meanwhile, the country's sovereign wealth fund is now reportedly raising its stakes on some of the leading tech companies, including Tesla Inc.
State-owned firm, Public Investment Fund (PIF), is now ramping up its efforts to secure the kingdom's economy as the world's view on energy source begins to favor more on the sustainable alternatives such as solar, geothermal, and wind.
The KSA happens to be one of the main producers of natural gas and other petroleum products. A majority, if not the entirety, of its national revenue, is drawn out from black gold. However, this could soon be changed as initiatives are now being put into action. The country is now beginning to look for new sources of income, primarily in the technology sector.
A previous report from this site indicated rumors saying that the PIF is now in talks with Elon Musk for a deal that could make the oil producer a major shareholder of Tesla Inc.
Earlier this month, reports pointed out on Musk's decision to make the electric car maker a private company. This shocking move to de-list the firm from Wall Street brought forth a lot of speculations, with one saying that Musk may have already found a major investor that can pour as much as USD$60 billion-worth of capital to keep Tesla going.
Riyadh has yet to confirm these allegations. However, the PIF already has a considerable holding in Tesla with the 5 percent stake it put up in the EV firm during the past few months. This is now valued at USD$2 billion.
If the KSA will indeed join the pool of investors to take over the privatized Tesla, Inc., then this would just be one of the many tech-investments it had done in the recent years.
A report from Bloomberg said that the Saudi's has pulled funds from the PIF to sign up several investment deals such as the USD$45 billion commitment to SoftBank Group Corp. and its USD$100 billion technology financing program. There's also the USD$1 billion-worth of investment made with Virgin Group and its space projects.
The Persian Gulf powerhouse is also brewing up some plans to build a USD$500 billion futuristic city that is manned by robots - a project called Neom.
According to Bloomberg, the city, which looks like something drawn out from science fiction, will be linked "with artificial intelligence, with the Internet of Things - everything."
