Saudi Arabia's Alat is entering into a joint venture with SoftBank. The parties want to jointly market a leading industrial automation company, with a focus on manufacturing industrial robots.
Alat was officially launched on 1 February by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, also active as chairman of Alat's board of directors. Alat is headquartered in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Its ambitions are big; the company should eventually grow into a leading global player in electronics and advanced industrial markets.
Collaborations with existing technology leaders in the market play an important role in Alat's strategy. Through the Public Investment Fund (PIF), $100 billion in investment budget has been made available for this purpose. PIF is one of the largest investment companies in the world with a portfolio worth some $776 billion.
Joint venture with SoftBank Group
One example is the announced joint venture that Alat is setting up with Japan's SoftBank Group. The two parties want to jointly set up an industrial automation company in Saudi Arabia that will focus on manufacturing industrial robots.
Alat and SoftBank are jointly investing $150 million in a fully automated manufacturing and engineering hub in Riyadh. From this hub, the parties aim to be able to meet both local and global demand. The location is due to open its doors in December this year.
Lighthouse factory
In the hub, Alat and SoftBank want to produce, among other things, industrial robots based on intellectual property owned by SoftBank and its partners. These robots should be able to perform tasks with minimal programming, and are aimed at industrial assembly and manufacturing applications, among others. The factory that is part of the hub is a so-called 'lighthouse factory', which deploys the latest technology to produce 'next-generation robots'.
Saudi Arabia wants to focus strongly on sustainability in the coming years. By 2035, for instance, it aims to have 32,000 factories running entirely on renewables and energy. Among other things, it points to the country's location, which is in a very sunny region. Alat's lighthouse factory is also to run entirely on renewable energy.
'Gamechanger for manufacturing worldwide'
"We want this to be the start of a gamechanger for manufacturing worldwide. Together with SoftBank Group, we see a huge market opportunity for robotics, both in the Kingdom (ed: Saudi Arabia), the Gulf region and globally. With this initial set-up, we predict a $1bn contribution to Saudi Arabia's GDP by 2025. Our ambition is to fundamentally transform industrial production by robots manufactured in the Kingdom," said Amit Midha, CEO of Alat.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group added: "The combination of Saudi Arabia's vision, economic growth and leading logistics location combined with abundant access to green energy and Alat's mandate to manufacture sustainably makes this strategic partnership very attractive. Today's announcement marks a historic milestone for how future production will take place."
Also investment in climate solutions
Alat is not only investing in industrial robots; it also announced this week a partnership with climate and energy solutions manufacturer Carrier. Here, they will combine Alat's financial clout with Carrier's technology and manufacturing capabilities to develop intelligent climate solutions on Saudi soil.
The parties will jointly establish manufacturing and R&D facilities for advanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions in Saudi Arabia. The Middle East and North Africa are the main markets.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image: apriltan18 via Pixabay
