The United States emerged as the top source of greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2025, accounting for 61 projects valued at $2.7 billion.

American investment made up nearly one-third of both project count and capital investment in the first six months, Emirates NBD said in a report.

Egypt ranked second in capital investment with $1.81 billion from 11 projects, driven by major real estate developments. China contributed $858.3 million through 11 projects, while France invested $771.7 million across six projects.

The UAE strengthened its regional footprint with 25 ventures worth $205.3 million, the report said.

Overall, greenfield projects in the Kingdom climbed 30.1% year-on-year (YoY) to 203 in the first half of 2025, while total investment inflows increased by 1.7% annually to $9.34 billion.
 
Riyadh was the top destination, attracting 100 projects with capital inflows of $2.3 billion. Dammam secured 21 projects worth $1.28 billion, followed by Jeddah with 13 projects valued at $1.22 billion.

The business services sector dominated in the number of greenfield FDI projects with 55, representing 27% of total projects.

The communications sector attracted the highest capital investment at $1.92 billion from just 11 projects, accounting for 21% of total FDI inflows. This was primarily driven by Equinix's $1 billion data centre investment announced at LEAP 2025.

Real estate ranked second in investment volume with $1.79 billion (19% of total) from only nine projects.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)