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Jeddah

Jeddah is the Kingdom's main Red Sea port and a long-established commercial center. Its technology adjacency is real but specific: King Abdulaziz University inside the city, and KAUST and King Abdullah Economic City up the coast to the north. It has no tech district of its own.

Last updated: 10 September 2026

Commerce, port and aviation

Jeddah is officially described as a financial hub and a significant economic growth driver. Jeddah Islamic Port handles about 31% of national freight traffic and more than 5,000 cargo vessels a year. The city hosts the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Islamic Development Bank, King Abdulaziz International Airport and Saudia's headquarters.

HUMAIN, the PIF-owned AI company, was launched in Jeddah by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on 12 May 2025, though the company itself is headquartered in Riyadh.

Where the research actually is

Inside the city, King Abdulaziz University runs the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, with departments in computer science, information systems, information technology and cybersecurity. It was made a full Faculty by royal decree in 2006.

KAUST is in Thuwal, not Jeddah

KAUST sits on the Red Sea coast at Thuwal, north of Jeddah in Mecca Province. It is routinely described as a Jeddah institution and it is not one. King Abdullah Economic City is likewise north of the city. It is a Special Economic Zone with a deep-water port, which ECZA reports as hosting 53+ factories and 160+ companies with over SAR 30bn of investment.

What this page does not claim

We could not source a named technology zone, AI research center or startup district inside Jeddah's city limits. Rather than assemble one, this page states what is verifiable and leaves the rest to the live company, job and salary data below.

Notable institutions

KAUST

Graduate research university at Thuwal, north of Jeddah. Its Centers of Excellence include one for Generative AI, chaired by Prof. Bernard Ghanem and co-chaired by Prof. Jürgen Schmidhuber.