The Sectors Global Companies Are Quietly Moving Into in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation is opening up a growing range of opportunities for international companies beyond the sectors most commonly associated with the Kingdom’s growth story.
Alongside major investments in technology, construction, and tourism, global companies are increasingly establishing a presence across emerging areas including arts and culture, entertainment, artificial intelligence, financial services, and insurance.
Arts and Culture: A Commercial Ecosystem Is Taking Shape
The Kingdom’s cultural sector is becoming a broader commercial ecosystem spanning film, music, design, visual arts, literature, performing arts, museums, heritage, and creative services.
The sector keeps attracting global companies pursuing a business setup in Saudi. Commercial registrations for creative, arts, and entertainment activities increased by 25% to more than 8,600, according to the Ministry of Commerce, placing creative activity among the Kingdom’s faster-growing business categories.
The rise in business activity is supported by a broader expansion of Saudi Arabia’s cultural ecosystem, as the Kingdom invests in the infrastructure, talent, and programming needed to support a growing creative economy. In 2025, Saudi Arabia recorded 6,314 cultural event days and 94 cultural facilities, exceeding the target of 87. Additionally, the sector’s growth continues to foster employment creation, with the workforce reaching more than 282,700 employees.
For international companies, however, entering Saudi Arabia’s creative economy increasingly means building a local presence and developing capabilities that align with the Kingdom’s evolving market.
As the sector matures, companies are expected to contribute not only international expertise but also to develop local talent, partnerships, and creative capabilities within the Kingdom.
The Riyadh Creative District is one example of how this ecosystem is taking shape. Designed to bring together creative companies, studios, production spaces, and supporting services, the district reflects Saudi Arabia’s broader push to create a physical and commercial environment where local and international creative businesses can operate, collaborate, and grow.
Entertainment: Building a Year-Round Industry
More than 320 million visitors have attended entertainment events and activities across the Kingdom in less than a decade. As demand grows, so does the ecosystem supporting it, with more than 7,200 companies operating in the entertainment sector by the first half of 2026.
Global entrants are already demonstrating how diverse those opportunities can be. Catapult expanded into Saudi Arabia in 2026 to deliver live experiences, brand activations, exhibitions, and conferences. Finnish sports entertainment company ISR, meanwhile, established a Riyadh entity to develop and commercialize its esports auto-racing platform, bringing together esports, motorsport, media, sponsorship, and destination experiences.
These examples highlight a broader shift. Companies do not necessarily need to operate an entertainment venue or produce a major event to participate in Saudi Arabia’s entertainment economy.
As the Kingdom moves toward a more year-round entertainment ecosystem, international companies with specialized capabilities can increasingly enter through the infrastructure around the entertainment experience itself.
Artificial Intelligence: The Market Is Moving Down the Technology Stack
Artificial intelligence may be Saudi Arabia’s most visible emerging sector, but the opportunity is extending well beyond AI software and applications. In 2026, designated as the Kingdom’s Year of Artificial Intelligence, commercial registrations for AI activities reached 24,552 by September, up 31% from 2025.
The growth points to an opportunity that extends well beyond AI applications themselves. As adoption accelerates, Saudi will need the infrastructure and capabilities to develop, deploy, and secure these technologies, including computing capacity, cloud services, cybersecurity, data management, enterprise software, and specialized AI solutions adapted to local needs.
Global companies are already moving into these layers. AI company Napster incorporated in Saudi Arabia to support deployments and partnerships around embodied and multimodal AI. Meanwhile, cybersecurity company ExtraHop established a local presence to serve enterprises and critical infrastructure providers as organizations adopt increasingly complex AI and cloud environments.
Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure ambitions are reinforced by equally significant targets for building the wider AI economy. The Kingdom aims to rank among the top 15 countries globally in AI by 2030. AI is also expected to contribute $135 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP by 2030.
These ambitions are creating demand across the broader AI ecosystem, from talent and technology to infrastructure and specialized services.
The Kingdom has already been ranked second globally for data center market attractiveness, with power availability and land readiness among its key advantages. For international technology companies, the opportunity is therefore becoming less about simply selling AI into Saudi Arabia and more about establishing a local position within an expanding AI economy.
Financial Services and Insurance: The Shift Toward Local Market Integration
Financial services are another area where the growth is happening beneath the headline numbers. Commercial registrations for financial and insurance activities increased 12% to around 16,900, according to Ministry of Commerce data.
Saudi Arabia’s financial ecosystem is becoming more digitally enabled, creating opportunities for international fintechs, payment companies, lenders, investment platforms, and insurance specialists.
International companies are also entering through partnerships and locally regulated structures. Egypt-based NowPay entered Saudi Arabia through a $20 million joint venture with Tas'heel. Similarly, InvestSky received a CMA Fintech Experimental Permit and launched a partnership with anb Capital.
The opportunity is widening beyond payments into SME financing, payroll, supply-chain finance, investment technology, and insurance infrastructure. Supply-chain finance is one area where this evolution is already taking shape. Notably, the PIF has recently launched Tawrid, which aims to develop digital supply-chain financing products connecting buyers, suppliers, and funders.
Saudi Arabia is therefore becoming less of a market to serve remotely and more of a market where local partnerships, regulatory approvals, and on-the-ground capabilities can create a meaningful competitive advantage.