News

Lenovo Will Issue $2 Billion In Bonds For Planned Saudi Expansion

The company has struck a deal with PIF-owned Alat to build a new headquarters and manufacturing plant in the Kingdom.

Published

2 years ago

May 29, 2024

Nour Nasir

Lenovo

Lenovo, the world’s largest PC manufacturer, will release $2 billion in convertible bonds to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund as part of a substantial investment agreement planned to drive the Kingdom’s technological advancement.

The agreement, signed with Public Investment Fund-owned Alat, includes a new regional (Middle East and Africa) headquarters in Riyadh, an R&D center, plus a PC and server factory.

The deal will allow Lenovo to unlock “significant resources and financial flexibility to further accelerate our transformation and grow our business by capitalizing on the incredible growth momentum in the MEA region,” according to Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang.

The Lenovo investment takes advantage of Saudi Arabia’s Regional Headquarters Program, which offers business-friendly incentives, including a 30-year tax break and access to loan programs, employment support, export credit, land solutions, and further financial incentives.

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Alat, a Public Investment Company organization launched in February, is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and aims to promote the Kingdom as a global power in sustainable technology, covering sectors such as semiconductors, robotics, mining, smart appliances, health, the built environment, and next-gen infrastructure.

Alat aims to create 39,000 jobs in Saudi Arabia and contribute $9.3 billion to the economy by 2030. Lenovo’s expansion into the Kingdom is expected to contribute significantly to these ambitions, as it controls around 25% of the global PC market.

The Lenovo-Alat deal comes as Saudi Arabia plans to boost foreign investment to $100 billion per year as part of its Vision 2030 agenda. The government hopes to have nearly 500 global companies headquartered in the country by 2030 as it attempts to pivot from a reliance on oil production.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

7 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

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For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.