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Trump courts Saudi investment on first day of Gulf trip

Updated May 13, 2025, 11:06am EDT
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US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman meet in Riyadh.
Bryan Snyder/Reuters

US-Saudi business ties are in the spotlight with President Donald Trump addressing a summit of executives in Riyadh on the first day of his Gulf tour.

The kingdom has pledged $600 billion in investment and trade with the US over the course of Trump’s term, but the president wants that figure bumped up to $1 trillion: Semafor scooped an early success for Trump, with a new Saudi AI company backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund picking a California chipmaker to help power its work.

Later on Tuesday, the Saudi firm announced a separate deal with US chip giant Nvidia to help power at least one data center in the Gulf nation. Nvidia’s CEO is among the dozens of business and tech leaders at the summit.

Trump has also pressed Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers to ramp up output in order to slash domestic US gas prices.

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