Saudi: Chinese Company To Establish First Satellite Manufacturing Plant Worth SR1B
Saudi Arabia announced on Thursday the completion of investment procedures worth SR1 billion ($266.57 million) to establish the first satellite manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia.
ASPACE, a Hong Kong-based Chinese company, obtained an investment license to set up the factory on the sidelines of the ongoing Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh. Minister of Investment Eng. Khalid Al-Falih presented the license to Sun FengQuan, co-chairman and CEO of ASPACE. The Ministry of Investment and the Saudi Space Agency have played a pivotal role in facilitating this process, including offering investment support opportunities, and identifying suitable manufacturing sites. This ultimately led to the completion of the first groundbreaking investment deal for the space sector in the Kingdom.
The Chinese company will establish an advanced satellite manufacturing factory in the Kingdom for the manufacturing of components, subsystems, and satellites. The volume of investment will increase successively with the progress of the stages of the project, which includes research and development and the manufacturing of components and subsystems, all the way to satellites.
ASPACE will benefit from the Kingdom’s geographical location as a platform to enhance space capabilities in the region by investing in advanced satellites, which represent 70 percent of the global space market. This will also promote the Kingdom’s position as an investment and advanced manufacturing destination to foreign companies.
