The White House announced on Tuesday that President Trump had secured $600 billion in business deals with the Saudi government and companies during the first stage of his Middle East tour, though a list of the agreements the administration released totaled less than half that amount and several were already in the works before the president took office.
The list of some of the agreements published by the White House left many details vague. The value of the agreements appeared to total about $283 billion. It was unclear whether the sums had already been committed or whether the funding was new. The time frames for most of the deals were also not explained, though some were described as multiyear agreements.
The investments appear to flow both ways. Some of the deals on the list were U.S. companies putting money into Saudi ventures, rather than Saudi investment in American companies. Others were agreements by the Saudi government or companies to purchase goods and services from American companies.
Here’s a look at some of the deals that were announced:
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Tech giants including Google, Oracle and Uber committed to investments in “cutting-edge transformative technologies” in Saudi Arabia and the United States worth a cumulative $80 billion. Salesforce, which makes software to help companies sell better and uses artificial intelligence, was another company listed as a contributor, but it announced its plans to invest $500 million in Saudi Arabia in February.
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A nearly $142 billion defense agreement involving over a dozen American companies and covering air force and space abilities, border security, communications and more.
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Nvidia said it will supply the artificial intelligence startup Humain, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, with about 18,000 of its latest chips. Nvidia’s competitor, AMD, also signed a deal with Humain to supply it with processors worth about $10 billion in a multiyear deal.
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Saudi Arabian company DataVolt will invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence data centers in the United States, the White House statement said. In a separate statement, DataVolt announced a multiyear deal with Supermicro, a California-based server provider.
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Saudi Arabia approved the use of Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite communications company, in the region, according to Mr. Musk, a key Trump ally.
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U.S. construction companies were also cited as winners in Mr. Trump’s investment commitment from Saudi Arabia, adding up to $2 billion in exports from the U.S. The companies, including Hill International, Jacobs, Parsons, and AECOM, were listed as suppliers in existing and envisioned infrastructure projects before Mr. Trump’s visit.
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Uber signed an agreement to launch a fleet of autonomous vehicles in Saudi Arabia this year, in partnership with the country’s transport ministry, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
In addition to investments and business deals, a raft of agreements between U.S. and Saudi government departments and cultural institutions were announced. They include:
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An agreement for a shoebox-sized Saudi satellite known as CubeSat to be hitched onto NASA’s upcoming Artemis II test flight. The American space agency has similar arrangements with the German and Korean space agencies.
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The Smithsonian Institution will collaborate on research and an exhibition in Al-Ula, an ancient desert site in the northwest of the country that is being developed as a tourist destination. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo will also work with the Royal Commission for Al-Ula to support the conservation of the endangered Arabian leopard, the White House statement said.
The deals built on earlier business relationships between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the White House said. During his first term, Mr. Trump said he secured $450 billion of investments for the United States during his visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017. Later analysis by Tim Callen, former Saudi mission chief for the International Monetary Fund and a visiting fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington showed that this was exaggerated.
