Global business expansion in Saudi Arabia is gaining sustained momentum. In the last year alone, as many as 521,969 businesses’ commercial registrations (CR) were granted to foreign companies.
The Kingdom has pegged itself as a preeminent location for establishing a base of operations or setting up regional headquarters (RHQs). Currently, it is home to 600 RHQs of multinational corporations (MNCs).
For a growing number of foreign companies expanding to Saudi Arabia, expansion is viewed as an ‘urgent priority’. This finding was highlighted and reported in The 2025 Saudi Market Entry Report.
Saudi Arabia’s Global Appeal Surges as Expansion Urgency Intensifies
Released earlier this year, the 2025 Saudi Market Entry Report gathers insights from over 1,200 global entities that were exploring business expansion in Saudi Arabia from 23+ countries in 2024.
The report showed that approximately 60% of these firms operate in the IT, construction, and consulting sectors.
A high proportion of companies, 24.8%, were IT businesses, mirroring a sharp rise in demand for IT-managed services and connectivity solutions and strong early adoption of emerging technology. This creates a foundation that enables companies to scale quickly while maintaining long-term business value and growth.
This shift is set against the backdrop of the country’s broader digitalization strategy, aiming to improve IT infrastructure, enhance the digital provision of services in different industries, and bridge the gap between skills and supply and national objectives.
Construction was next on the list of sectors that attract global companies. Almost 16.6% of companies that considered the Kingdom as their priority expansion market in 2024 were construction firms. The report showcased a 33% YoY increase in urgency as a key motivation for expansion.
Large-scale infrastructure projects, increased industrial investments, and rising demand for housing units are contributing to attracting a growing influx of foreign investments in Saudi Arabia.
Consulting came in third, accounting for 16.2% of global firms weighing Saudi market entry last year.
The pace at which companies are scaling in Saudi Arabia has been rapidly accelerating. Almost 64% of businesses sought market entry within 1-3 months in 2024, compared to 48% in 2023, the report highlighted.
The solidity and resilience of the Saudi economy bolster the country’s global appeal. Around half of the foreign companies exploring Saudi market entry came from Asia, the Americas region, and the UK. This demonstrates a sustained investor interest and diversification of the Saudi business ecosystem.
Top Strategies for Achieving Successful Business Expansion in Saudi Arabia
The 2025 Saudi Market Entry Report introduced the first-ever Business Success Index, which looks at the learnings from more than 50 foreign companies that already entered the market in 2024.
The overwhelming majority of businesses cited access to untapped opportunities as their top reason for the accelerated business expansion in Saudi.
The findings showed that a lack of commitment to completing the necessary steps in the business expansion process in the Kingdom can lead to delayed entry or loss of market access.
On the contrary, 81% of companies that fully completed their expansion setup before engaging with the market are the ones that achieved a faster, more effective soft landing.
Localization stood out as the most important factor for achieving successful market entry and sustainable business growth. Almost 74% of participants said they had successfully adapted their core offerings to suit the market demands.
Moreover, hiring local talent remained a key piece of the best-executed business expansion strategy. Almost 31.25% of businesses reported that bringing Saudi professionals on board helped build relationships with key stakeholders and clients. This, in turn, has strengthened their overall market positioning.
Fostering trust with stakeholders, aided by a thorough understanding of the market and its cultural nuances, is key to a successful market entry.
This view was echoed by 41.1% of companies participating in the Index. All of them corroborated that networking and forming local partnerships are considered major drivers of business success in Saudi. Thus, engaging a local third-party business setup partner has proven advantageous in streamlining the Saudi market entry process.
All in all, companies that make long-term investment commitments to the local market are more likely to guarantee a higher ROI and establish a robust on-ground presence.