NEOM Files - Part 2
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50 billion spent. 2.4 kilometres built out of 170. Construction suspended. Now they are negotiating data centres on the same land.
NEOM was announced in 2017 as a 500 billion dollar megacity. The Line, its flagship component, was announced in 2021 as a 170-kilometre mirrored linear city for 9 million people. Bloomberg reported in April 2024 that the first phase had been cut to 2.4 kilometres. The Wall Street Journal documented an internal audit in March 2025 projecting full completion at 8.8 trillion dollars by 2080. Construction was suspended in September 2025. Bloomberg subsequently reported Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud in advanced negotiations for data centres on the Oxagon site. One man was killed so this project could begin. Three remain on death row.
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2017: NEOM announced · 2021: The Line announced · 170km · 500m tall · 9 million residents · 500 billion dollars02 / 07
2021. The Line announced. 170 kilometres. 500 metres tall. 9 million residents. Zero cars. 100 percent renewable energy.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced NEOM in 2017 as a 500 billion dollar megacity in Tabuk province. In 2021 he announced The Line as the flagship component: a 170-kilometre linear city enclosed in mirrored walls, 200 metres wide and 500 metres tall, designed to house 9 million people with zero cars, zero streets and 100 percent renewable energy. Independent engineering assessments subsequently leaked to the Wall Street Journal described the full build-out as structurally impractical without fundamental design changes, noting that building a 500-metre-tall structure only 200 metres wide creates wind load and structural engineering challenges no existing technology can solve at 170 kilometre scale.
The project was announced as the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 economic diversification programme. It was presented to international investors, governments and media as a template for future urban development. NEOM officials stated it would consume 20 percent of the world's available steel and described NEOM as "the world's largest customer for construction materials for several decades." The materials are no longer being ordered at the announced scale.
Source: NEOM official announcements 2017-2021 · Wall Street Journal, engineering assessment reporting 2024 · Bloomberg, April 2024
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Saudi PIF · SoftBank · 500 billion official budget · 50 billion spent confirmed Davos 202503 / 07
Official budget: 500 billion dollars, more than half of PIF's total holdings. 50 billion confirmed spent as of early 2025.
NEOM is financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The official announced budget of 500 billion dollars represents more than half of the PIF's total holdings. SoftBank committed early capital to the project. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in February 2025, NEOM deputy CEO Rayan Fayez confirmed that over 50 billion dollars had been spent across all NEOM components to date. This figure covers foundational infrastructure including an operational airport, road networks, worker housing, port facilities and a near-complete green hydrogen plant.
Even executives working on the project told the Wall Street Journal that the 500 billion dollar budget figure is unrealistic. The first 1.5-mile phase of The Line alone was expected by internal estimates to cost approximately 100 billion dollars. An internal audit subsequently leaked to the Wall Street Journal projected the full 170-kilometre build-out at approximately 8.8 trillion dollars, more than 25 times the annual GDP of Saudi Arabia, with a completion date of 2080.
Source: World Economic Forum, Davos 2025, Rayan Fayez statement · Wall Street Journal, March 2025 · Newsweek, June 2024
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Bloomberg April 2024 · 170km to 2.4km · 1.5 million to 300,000 residents · Officials denied it · Site confirmed it04 / 07
170 kilometres announced. 2.4 kilometres being built. 1.5 million residents projected. 300,000 now targeted. Officials denied it. The construction site confirmed it.
Bloomberg reported in April 2024 that Saudi planners had been forced to reduce The Line's initial phase to 2.4 kilometres by 2030, cutting the projected population from 1.5 million to fewer than 300,000. The Guardian reported simultaneously that planners had been forced to slash the initial phase to just 2.4 kilometres. Officials initially denied the reports. The construction site confirmed them. 2.4 kilometres represents 1.4 percent of the planned 170-kilometre length. Construction on The Line was suspended in September 2025, confirmed by the PIF.
The Wall Street Journal reported in March 2025 that an internal audit had found deliberate manipulation of finances by management to justify soaring costs. The end-state cost estimate had reached approximately 8.8 trillion dollars. Separately, independent engineering assessments described in the Journal concluded the full build-out was structurally impractical without fundamental design changes. By the end of 2025, NEOM job postings had dropped 74.6 percent from the start of the year. Over 1,000 employees were relocated from the site to Riyadh in January 2026 for centralised oversight.
Source: Bloomberg, April 2024 · The Guardian, April 2024 · Wall Street Journal, March 2025 · Fast Company, May 2026 · House of Saud analysis, April 2026
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WSJ internal audit · 8.8 trillion · 2080 · PIF 8 billion writedown August 2025 · Construction suspended05 / 07
WSJ internal audit: 8.8 trillion to complete. Finished by 2080. PIF wrote down 8 billion in August 2025. Construction suspended September 2025.
The Wall Street Journal's March 2025 reporting on the NEOM internal audit is the most detailed public accounting of the gap between the announced project and the ground reality. The audit found that completing The Line to its original specification would cost an estimated 8.8 trillion dollars, more than 25 times Saudi Arabia's annual GDP, and would not be finished until 2080. The audit also documented what the Journal described as deliberate manipulation of finances by management to justify escalating costs.
In August 2025, the PIF wrote down 8 billion dollars from the NEOM project, the first confirmed financial write-down. In September 2025, the PIF announced the suspension of construction on The Line. The workforce, which had peaked at over 100,000 workers in October 2024, was significantly reduced. As of March 2026, approximately 2.4 kilometres of foundation work had been completed for The Line. No above-ground superstructure has been built. No residents live there.
Source: Wall Street Journal, March 2025 internal audit reporting · Fast Company, May 2026 · House of Saud analysis, April 2026 · PIF suspension announcement, September 2025
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Bloomberg · Amazon Web Services · Google Cloud · Data centres · Oxagon · Industrial pivot06 / 07
The city for 9 million is being repositioned. Bloomberg: AWS and Google Cloud in advanced negotiations for data centres on the same land.
Bloomberg reported that data centre deals, potentially with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, were in advanced negotiations for Oxagon, the NEOM industrial and port city that forms part of the broader project. The reporting indicated that the project is being restructured around industrial and energy uses rather than the futuristic residential and tourism vision that was presented to the world when NEOM was announced. Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan stated in December 2025 that NEOM's scope would be adjusted to focus on bankable, revenue-generating components.
The land on which data centres are now being negotiated is the same land from which the Huwaitat tribe was displaced beginning in 2020. Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti was killed on that land in April 2020. His brother Shadli al-Huwaiti remains on death row. The project that required the displacement has spent 50 billion dollars, built 2.4 kilometres of foundation, suspended construction, and is now pivoting toward a use case that was not part of the original announcement. The distance between what was announced and what exists is documented. The people who lived on the land before the announcement are also documented.
Source: Bloomberg, data centre reporting 2025-2026 · Middle East Insider, April 2026 · House of Saud analysis, April 2026 · Al-Jadaan statement, December 2025
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The question. Not a claim. Series final.07 / 07 · Series final
One man killed. Three sentenced to death. 50 billion spent. 2.4 kilometres built. Construction suspended. Data centres now being negotiated. What is the gap between what was announced and what was built called when the people who lived there are no longer there to name it?
The NEOM Files close here. The names of the three men on death row are in the public record: Shadli Ahmad Mahmoud Abou Taqiqa al-Huwaiti, Ibrahim Salih Ahmad Abou Khalil al-Huwaiti and Atallah Moussa Mohammed al-Huwaiti. The land is documented. The project is documented. The distance between the two is on record.
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