Saudi Arabia is mandating that leading Chinese technology companies invest in the Gulf kingdom in return for huge deals, as it leverages its petrodollar wealth to boost its domestic tech industry.
Alibaba and SenseTime are among the top Chinese groups to have secured deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Saudi Arabia over the past three years, in exchange for setting up joint ventures in the country.
According to five industry insiders, including fund managers, tech entrepreneurs and consultants working on the agreements, Saudi investors are applying increasingly stringent requirements to fund deals.
In some cases, Chinese companies have to share technical expertise with their new Saudi partners.
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