A key, often overlooked factor in Saudi Arabia's transformation is the return of its citizens educated at top Western universities like Stanford and MIT. This repatriated talent pool, driven by a sense of duty and opportunity, forms the skilled workforce needed to build the nation's digital future.

Sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf are investing heavily in the gaming industry, which is larger than film and TV combined. This is a deliberate, long-term strategy to diversify their economies away from oil by acquiring valuable, globally-relevant intellectual property and capturing a new generation of consumers.

Leading sovereign funds like Saudi Arabia's PIF and New Mexico's SIC are evolving beyond generating returns. They are now the primary policy tools for ambitious national goals, such as transitioning to a net-zero economy or funding universal childcare, directly tying investment success to tangible societal outcomes.

OpenAI's pursuit of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds is described as reaching the 'final boss' of fundraising. This move suggests traditional venture and corporate capital sources may be fatigued or insufficient for the massive capital required, signaling a limit to the private fundraising runway.

Beyond the US and China, Saudi Arabia is positioned to become the third-largest AI infrastructure country. The national strategy leverages its abundance of land and power not just for oil exports, but to lead the world in "energy exports via tokens," effectively selling compute power globally.

Humane was founded after its CEO discovered it took oil giant Aramco nine months just to procure and deploy AI infrastructure. This massive delay, even for a well-resourced company, highlighted the foundational opportunity to build a national AI champion and regional digital hub for the Middle East.

Economic growth is a direct function of the reduction in the price of energy. Nations with access to cheap, locally available energy are almost uniformly wealthy, regardless of their system of governance, while those without it are almost uniformly poor.

Faced with a US market fixated on AI, CellSci is seeking approval and funding in Saudi Arabia. The nation's "Vision 2030" plan to become a global biotech hub creates opportunities for innovative companies to gain access to capital and a more favorable regulatory environment.

Regional stability is an economic necessity for oil-rich nations. Peace allows them to accelerate monetization of their finite oil reserves and reinvest the capital into diversified, future-proof economies like AI and tourism before alternative energy devalues their primary asset.