News

Saudi Arabia Set To Invest $1 Trillion In The Real Estate Sector

Backed by a young population and expanding urbanization, the property sector has impressive future growth potential.

Published

3 years ago

December 12, 2022

saudi arabia set to invest $1 trillion in the real estate sector

S&P Global Ratings, a major US credit rating agency, has forecast sustained market growth for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as $1 trillion is set to be pumped into infrastructure and real estate projects over the coming decade.

As well as a young and growing population, expanding urbanization is a significant reason for S&P’s promising predictions, with at least eight new cities being planned along the Red Sea coast by 2030. During the Distinguished Cities Projects Exhibition in Riyadh, nine agreements worth $533 million were signed by the National Housing Company and other national strategic partners.

Saudi Arabia’s large-scale real estate programs will provide 1.3 million new homes overall, invigorating the business and financial sectors, and pumping money into both commercial and residential building via investments.

Saudi Arabia’s economy has also benefited from government initiatives to attract multinational companies, with tech startups, in particular, gravitating to the Kingdom and boosting the occupancy rates of commercial and office real estate across the region.

Also Read: Metaverse Will Bring $15B Annually To Gulf Economies By 2030

S&P also noted that many new programs had been initiated to scale up local housing and revitalize the financial sector, potentially benefiting commercial real estate across the country. As the tourism sector continues to grow rapidly, even more real estate investment opportunities will present themselves as companies and private individuals seek to relocate to Saudi Arabia.

As well as experiencing a dramatic flourishing of the commercial and residential real estate sectors, Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision is also bringing a boost to energy, healthcare and the wider digital economy.

News

At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

6 days ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch

Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.