French investment in Kingdom worth $19b expands into AI, digital infrastructure, culture, mining

French investment stock in Saudi Arabia has reached about €16.3 billion ($19 billion) across 18 sectors and 651 investment licences, doubling over the past five years and expanding beyond traditional energy and manufacturing into artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, culture, financial services and mining. The figure makes France the Kingdom’s fourth-largest source of foreign direct investment stock in 2024, with manufacturing still accounting for roughly 60 percent of that stock.

"The transformation has helped make Saudi Arabia one of the fastest‑growing economies in the G20," Investment Minister Fahad Al‑Saif said at the French‑Saudi Investment Roundtable in Paris, where the investment briefing was released during the visit of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. Al‑Saif highlighted that GDP had expanded by about 85 percent since 2017 — from approximately €620 billion to €1.1 trillion last year — and that non‑oil activity now constitutes more than half of GDP.

Key data presented at the meeting underline the breadth of cooperation and the scale of new opportunities:

• Volume and scope: €16.3 billion in French investments spanning 18 sectors and 651 licences; manufacturing represents ~60% of the stock.
• Trade and FDI flows: bilateral trade reached about €10.1 billion in 2025, up 7.2% year‑on‑year; foreign direct investment inflows into Saudi Arabia were approximately €6.1 billion in Q1 2026, a 2.4% increase from Q1 2025.
• Digital and AI targets: Saudi Arabia’s digital economy made up about 16% of GDP in 2024; the Kingdom is targeting up to 3 gigawatts of AI infrastructure capacity by 2030. Data centre capacity currently stands at 440 megawatts backed by more than €3.85 billion in investment, while announced AI partnerships exceed €19.7 billion.
• Major corporate players: longstanding French firms operating in the Kingdom include TotalEnergies, AXA, EDF, Accor and Thales. Global cloud providers Oracle and Google Cloud have launched cloud regions in the Kingdom, with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft scheduled to begin operations in 2026.
• Energy and renewables: French‑led consortia are participating in solar projects totaling 11 GW; French projects in the Kingdom’s energy sector exceed €16.3 billion, with growing interest in renewables, energy storage, hydrogen and grid infrastructure.
• Cultural and tourism ties: the Saudi‑French partnership in AlUla has generated more than 170 contracts for French companies, and Accor continues to expand hospitality operations across the Kingdom.

"The two countries’ relationship, which dates back a century, reflected a strong alignment between French capabilities in technology, industry, finance and innovation and the ambitions of Saudi Vision 2030," Al‑Saif added, noting the emergence of new sectors such as gaming and esports where average revenue per player in Saudi Arabia is roughly 7% above the global average and about 4.5 times the regional mean.

French Economy and Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the strategic nature of the partnership, particularly in energy and logistics security, saying Saudi Arabia "had demonstrated its reliability." The economic relationship also runs in the other direction: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invested about €7.36 billion in France between 2017 and 2024, supporting an estimated 29,000 French jobs.

Looking ahead, meeting participants identified four priority areas for deeper cooperation — building the digital economy through AI and digital infrastructure, financing transformative destinations, converting industrial partnerships into executable projects, and advancing transportation and logistics — signaling a sustained push to translate high‑level investment commitments into operational projects across both countries.