PIF seeks to expand US investments despite restrictions, says governor Al-Rumayyan Saudi sovereign fund launched 103 companies across 13 sectors, aims to attract more foreign talent to Saudi Arabia

MIAMI — Public Investment Fund (PIF) Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan reaffirmed the fund's commitment to expanding investments in the United States but noted that certain restrictions have limited these efforts.
Speaking at the FII Priority Summit in Miami on Friday, he expressed hope that regulatory hurdles would be eased to allow for greater foreign investment in the U.S. "And it could have been much more," Al-Rumayyan said.
"But you know, unfortunately, sometimes when you want to procure more from the U.S. or invest more, there are certain restrictions. I think, I hope with the current administration these restrictions [will] be ironed out and it will attract more investment back to the U.S."
Despite regulatory barriers, PIF has significantly expanded its investments in the United States, with 40% of its international deployment allocated to American companies.
Al-Rumayyan highlighted several major investments that, while classified as domestic, have created significant economic impact in the U.S. "I'll just give two examples," he said.
"Riyadh Air, a new company that we have established to connect Riyadh to the rest of the world with more destinations and more frequencies just put a contract for Boeing like two years ago for about $20-plus billion. This $20-plus billion is creating more jobs here in the U.S."
He also pointed to PIF's growing presence in the gaming industry through its subsidiary, Savvy Games Group.
"Another example is Savvy, which is one of our e-gaming companies, one of the largest. It became one of the largest companies and acquired a company in the U.S., which is Scopely, for about $4.9 billion."
PIF remains the largest investor in electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid and continues to invest in U.S. technology companies.
"Another great company, I think, is Magic Leap, right here in Fort Lauderdale. We have deployed, I think, close to either between $3 billion to $4 billion since the beginning. It has the greatest technology. Now we're working with Google, Meta, and hopefully very soon with all the others."
Al-Rumayyan emphasized that PIF's impact extends beyond financial markets. "The impact of our investments is not only in financial markets but in real companies, creating new innovations, new products, and new services, which really create jobs and economic growth."
Al-Rumayyan reiterated that PIF is the economic engine of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, with a mission to stimulate GDP growth through strategic investments.
"If you look at the GDP formula, right, it's government spending plus investments, then consumption plus export minus import," he explained.
"Now, the role of PIF is mainly the 'I'—the investments—and this will stimulate the whole economy, the whole GDP."
He pointed out that Saudi Arabia was the fastest-growing economy among G20 countries in 2022, despite rising global interest rates.
"While interest rates were going from 2% to over 6.5%, we still grew over 7%. And the main reason was the deployment of investments that we had." Since 2017, PIF has established 103 companies across 13 sectors, focusing on both domestic and international investments.
"Our focus right now is on domestic deployment. We deploy between $40 billion to $50 billion on an annual basis in greenfield projects, which is really a big thing for us," Al-Rumayyan said.
"Instead of going to the secondary market and buying financial assets—which is part of our strategy—we go there, invest in new companies, new sectors, revive some of these sectors, create some of these sectors.
The economic multiplier of that is really what we look at. To have an economic multiplier of a minimum of two times: for every riyal or dollar we spend, we will get at least another riyal or dollar." PIF's investments have led to significant job creation.
"We created over 1.1 million direct and indirect jobs, domestically and globally," he said. "And the thing about these jobs is not only the numbers but the quality of these jobs, which really matters."
Al-Rumayyan emphasized Saudi Arabia's openness to foreign professionals, stating that a diverse workforce is essential for the Kingdom's growth.
"We have people—Saudis and otherwise," he said. "One-third of our population are foreigners residing in Saudi. So we're welcoming more and more foreigners to come, reside, work, and live in Saudi Arabia."
Discussing the role of artificial intelligence, Al-Rumayyan positioned Saudi Arabia as a potential global leader in the field, citing strong government support, financial resources, and a talent pool.
"We are very well positioned to be a major global champion when it comes to AI for the following reasons," he said.
"One, we have the political will; with that comes regulations to pave the way for not only PIF and the Saudi private sector but also for international players. And that's what we have demonstrated with our partnerships with Google and the others."
Energy availability is also a key advantage. "When we started talking about AI, everyone was looking at AI itself and forgetting the most important element, which is energy. And energy—we have a surplus of energy," he stated.
Saudi Arabia aims to generate 50% of its energy mix from renewables by 2030. "I know this is not fashionable anymore, but we want to have 50% of our energy mix come from renewables, and the other 50% will come from gas. Hopefully, we will have zero liquids in this mix."
Al-Rumayyan also discussed PIF's investments in sports, aimed at boosting tourism and improving quality of life. "We bought Newcastle Football Club, and we did extremely well," he said.
"Then we started on our local deployment. We have now four different football clubs in Saudi, and the reason why we acquired these four teams is because we wanted to elevate the Saudi Pro League to be in the top three football leagues around the world."
Golf and esports are also major areas of focus. "We have, of course, invested in LIV Golf. The reason why we invested there is because we saw the potential of golf—it has a big potential," he explained.
"We did the same thing with esports. Esports is the next big thing. Savvy's mandate is not only to invest in other companies in gaming but to create esports activities."
Saudi Arabia will also host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, with major infrastructure projects underway. "The World Cup of football is coming to Saudi in 2034, and we're building now a big number of stadiums. It's going to be all over the Kingdom—Riyadh, the Eastern Region, NEOM, Jeddah. These are very innovative stadium designs, basically inviting more and more people to come and visit the Kingdom."