Schneider Electric investments in Saudi Arabia exceed €300M

Walid Sheta, President of Middle East & Africa at Schneider Electric, breaks down the company's investments in Saudi Arabia

Walid Sheta, President of Middle East & Africa at Schneider Electric, said the company’s investments in Saudi Arabia have surpassed €300 million (around SAR 1.2 billion) since entering the local market over 30 years ago.

These investments cover factories, industrial equipment, and production lines, including more than 50 million euros (SAR 200 million) injected over the past five years, Sheta told Argaam in an interview.

He noted that Schneider Electric currently operates two factories in Riyadh and Dammam and is on track to launch a third in King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) in Eastern Province.

The combined production capacity of the three plants, according to the top executive, represents over 30% of the company’s total industrial output sold across the Middle East and Africa.

The company runs 32 production lines in the Kingdom, eight of which are dedicated to exports after they were previously serving only the local market.

Sheta highlighted that this shift has been supported by government incentives and Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification, enabling the company to expand abroad, particularly in African and Arab markets.

Schneider Electric’s key products in Saudi Arabia include low- and medium-voltage electrical distribution panels used in infrastructure projects, data centers, hospitals, airports, and critical facilities.

Demand for these products is growing rapidly amid expanding investments in the Kingdom’s energy, transportation, hospitality, and telecom sectors, the top executive underlined.

He emphasized that Schneider Electric holds a dominant market share in the Kingdom’s critical power segment, besides being a leading competitor in other areas.

On local partnerships, Sheta said the company’s major clients in Saudi Arabia include Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Co., stc, and Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group.

Schneider Electric’s investments are not limited to industrial equipment but also extend to talent development, hiring more than 60 Saudi men and women annually in fields such as digitization and software, he concluded.