Saudi Aramco, SBI Holdings Forge Digital Partnership

After Walmart, Saudi Aramco ranks as the second-largest corporation globally in terms of revenue. The MOU referenced investments by Saudi Aramco with the intention of enhancing its supply chain. In spite of the government’s considerable interest in Web3, cryptocurrency is “not recognized by legal entities” in Saudi Arabia.

The partnership between SBI Holdings and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing, a company based in Taiwan, was also emphasized.

The possibility of a collaboration between the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco and the Japanese financial services firm SBI Holdings regarding semiconductor production and investment in digital assets is being considered.

In their memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding cooperation, the parties stipulated that SBI Middle East would be established in Riyadh as a regional operational hub.

“The scope of the alliance may be expanded upon agreement between the Company and Aramco.”

As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU) dated December 7, Saudi Aramco and SBI intend to explore the possibility of collaborating and co-investing in their respective digital asset portfolios.

They might identify Japanese digital asset startups that are potentially interested in establishing semiconductor production initiatives in both Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Furthermore, this is SBI Holdings’ most recent effort to gain a foothold in the Middle East. It formed a joint venture in November with SC Ventures, the fintech investment arm of the British bank Standard Chartered, to establish an investment firm in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that would make bets on “decentralized finance (DeFi), consumer payments, tokenization, risk management and compliance tools, market infrastructure, and the metaverse.”

In September, TradeFinex, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, and SBI Holdings formed a joint venture in Japan with the objective of localizing TradeFinex’s XDC Network enterprise blockchain.

SBI Holdings has been a partner of Ripple since 2018 and is the company’s largest outside shareholder. SBI Holdings and Circle reached a memorandum of understanding in late November regarding the expansion of USD coin circulation and Web3 services in Japan, contingent upon regulatory approval.