- Saudi Arabia may swap residential plans for an industrial and AI focus
- The desert nation is investing heavily in GPUs for state-backed AI facilities
- Coastal access offers potential seawater cooling for desert data centers
Saudi Arabia’s Neom project, known as “The Line”, was originally described as a linear urban development stretching roughly 170km across the desert.
The concept envisioned a linear city with extreme density, automated mobility, and renewable energy that would accommodate 9 million residents within its narrow footprint.
However, reports now suggest officials are reconsidering this vision after internal reviews revealed delays, rising costs, and broader fiscal pressure – and sources cited by the Financial Times say the revised plan may abandon large-scale residential ambitions in favor of far smaller industrial use.
Focus on AI infrastructure and data centers
In this context, planners are reportedly considering the site as a hub for cloud hosting and large-scale data centers designed to support intensive compute workloads.
It will probably prioritize high-density server deployments for AI training and inference, rather than housing or urban services.
Some accounts suggest operators would favor bare metal infrastructure to maximize performance and utilization efficiency.
Saudi Arabia has recently accelerated investment in AI capacity, including the acquisition of thousands of advanced GPUs for state-backed facilities.
However, Saudi Arabia’s climate poses a well-documented challenge for data center operations, especially given sustained high temperatures and limited freshwater availability.
Independent research has identified the country as one where most existing data centers operate in zones considered inefficient for cooling.
But The Line’s coastal access to the Red Sea offers a practical advantage, with planners proposing seawater cooling as a mitigation strategy.
Similar projects, such as xAI’s Colossus in Memphis, have faced scrutiny after satellite checks suggested limits in available electricity or cooling capacity for AI systems.
Whether the downscaled data center will reach full capacity remains unclear, but Saudi Arabia chose to pause The Line in favor of a smaller plan.
The desert nation has faced tightening liquidity after years of expansive public spending, while lower oil revenues and competing commitments like the Expo trade fair and the 2034 World Cup added pressure.
Neom did not directly dispute claims of a reduced scope, instead emphasizing phased development and alignment with national priorities.
This approach suggests flexibility rather than a firm commitment to the original scale or timeline.
Observers note similar adjustments have already occurred across other Saudi megaprojects.
But without a clear reaffirmation of the original plan, speculation has grown that the linear city model may no longer sit at the center of Neom’s near-term strategy.
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