NEOM business opportunities in 2026: how a foreign company becomes a supplier

NEOM in October 2026: what is being built and what has stopped

NEOM in October 2026 is a smaller, staged project whose current phase centres on Oxagon, its industrial city and port, after the Public Investment Fund (PIF) approved its 2026–2030 strategy on 15 April 2026 and told NEOM to reprioritise spending. ^{3 4} The strategy keeps NEOM as one of six ecosystems in PIF's Vision Portfolio. It also says that portfolio will open room for the private sector "as an investor, partner and supplier". ³

On the same day, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said no NEOM project had been cancelled. On The Line he was blunt: "It would be good to have, but it's not a must. What we must have is Oxagon." He added that the next phase would rely less on direct PIF funding. ⁴ What happened next matters more to a supplier than the words. In March 2026 NEOM terminated Webuild's contract for the Trojena dams and "The Bow", with work about 30% complete. Webuild said NEOM used the same right "with respect to other contractors for other works in the area". In May NEOM terminated the Connector High-Speed Line contract, which was about 20% done and already suspended. ⁵

If your sales deck still opens with The Line, rebuild it around Oxagon before you register. NEOM's own description is a "reimagined industrial city" with a 48 km² core, pre-zoned industrial land, energy at scale and a digital backbone. ² That list is a fair map of where the supply contracts are.

Who actually buys at NEOM: three layers of buyer

NEOM work is bought at three levels: NEOM itself, through its supplier portal on the GEP platform; NEOM's operating businesses and partners at Oxagon, such as the Port of NEOM and the data centre builders; and the main (tier-1) contractors that win NEOM packages and then buy from their own supply chains.

NEOM itself buys through the portal described below. Its FAQ is clear that registration puts you in a database the procurement team searches when it builds a tender list. It does not put you on a list that is sent every tender. ¹

NEOM's businesses and partners sit at Oxagon. NEOM lists the Port of NEOM, NEOM Bay Airport and the HUMAIN and DataVolt data centre among its businesses. ² A partner that is a separate company buys under its own procurement process, so ask each one how it registers suppliers. Don't assume your NEOM registration carries across.

Tier-1 contractors take the large packages and subcontract much of the work. NEOM's FAQ says it does not share who its contractors are, so you have to build that list yourself. ¹ Award announcements in the Saudi press and contractors' own stock-exchange disclosures are the practical sources. Webuild's 2026 notices are a good example of how much a listed contractor publishes. ⁵

What NEOM buys: the eight supplier categories

NEOM sorts suppliers into eight categories on its portal: construction; equipment and materials; facilities; professional services and human capital; marketing, media and sports; mobility, fleet and logistics; technology; and master planning, architecture and design services. ¹ Register in the category that matches what you would actually invoice for, not the one that sounds closest to NEOM's vision.

Column 2 is our reading of NEOM's Oxagon and "Our business" pages ², not a NEOM procurement list.

If you span several categories, start with the one where your references are strongest. A narrow profile with three solid references gets a buyer's attention faster than a wide one with none.

How to register as a NEOM supplier, step by step

NEOM supplier registration is a free, three-step online process: apply on the supplier portal, complete the company profile and accept NEOM's terms, then answer the supplier questionnaire NEOM sends after approval. Approved suppliers can be invited to tenders in their category. ¹ In NEOM's words, registration is "open to any company that shares our vision and values".

1. Apply online. Start from NEOM's suppliers page. The links there lead to GEP (nexxe.gep.com and businessnetwork.gep.com), the platform NEOM uses.
2. Complete your profile. Submit company details and supporting documents, and accept NEOM's terms. Once approved, you receive the supplier questionnaire.
3. Take part in tenders. Once selected, you get access to NEOM's procurement opportunities and can be invited to relevant tenders.

Five points from NEOM's own FAQ save time ¹:

• The initial registration is enough to be invited to an RFP, RFQ or prequalification (PQQ). Suppliers that are approved and marked "In registration mode" can already be invited.
• A GEP account you hold for another buyer doesn't count. You still register with NEOM separately.
• NEOM tells suppliers to keep every field complete and current, because that data is how the procurement team finds you.
• NEOM does not share the names of its other contractors.
• A local joint venture without its own Commercial Registration registers with its zakat certificate and that certificate's tax number (TIN). It also needs a bank account in the joint venture's name.

What NEOM's prequalification checks

NEOM does not publish the questions in its supplier questionnaire, so prepare for what its FAQ and Saudi procurement rules make visible: a legal identity (a CR, or for a joint venture a zakat certificate and TIN), a bank account in the bidding entity's name, complete company data and, where a tender carries them, local content figures. ^{1 8}

We would have this pack ready before the questionnaire arrives:

• Your home Commercial Registration and an ownership chart, plus the Saudi CR if you have one
• The last financial year's statements (MISA asks for these too, so prepare them once for both)
• Three to five references for work like the package you want, with client contacts who will answer
• Certificates you actually hold: quality, HSE, product approvals. List none you are only "working towards".
• Your ZATCA VAT certificate and GOSI registration if you have a Saudi entity
• A one-page local content statement showing your Saudi staff and Saudi spend, even if both are small today

Documents from outside Saudi Arabia need the right certification before a Saudi authority accepts them. Since Saudi Arabia joined the Apostille Convention in December 2022, an apostille replaces embassy legalisation for countries that are members. Our document attestation and apostille service explains which route your country takes.

Do you need a Saudi company to supply NEOM?

A Saudi company is not required to register on NEOM's supplier portal, but it becomes necessary as soon as you deliver work in the Kingdom: staff on site, invoicing in riyals with VAT, or an ongoing contract. NEOM's own FAQ assumes a Saudi CR or, for joint ventures, a zakat certificate. ¹

What you need depends on how the work is delivered. Find your case in this table:

Two tax points sit behind that table. Withholding tax applies to payments to non-residents: 5% on technical and consulting services, 15% on royalties and 20% on management fees, paid by the Saudi payer within the first 10 days of the following month. And long stays create risk. ZATCA's 2023 circular on permanent establishments notes that under most of Saudi Arabia's tax treaties, services supplied through staff in the Kingdom for more than 183 days in any 12-month period create a permanent establishment, whose profits Saudi Arabia then taxes. Check your own treaty with your tax adviser before you send a team.

The registrations a NEOM supplier needs, in order

A foreign company that will deliver NEOM work in Saudi Arabia goes through the same chain as any foreign investor: MISA registration, then the Commercial Registration (Sijil Tijari), then ZATCA, GOSI and Qiwa, a bank account, and finally work visas and Iqamas for staff. Each step reads data from the one before.

1. MISA registration. The Ministry of Investment registers the foreign investor in about 10 working days. The fee is set on approval and must be paid within 15 business days, or the registration lapses. ⁶
2. Commercial Registration (CR). The Ministry of Commerce issues it. Since April 2025 a CR has no expiry date, but it must be confirmed every 12 months.
3. National Address and Chamber of Commerce. Some later services need them. The electronic invitation letter for a business visit visa, for example, is issued through the Saudi Chamber of Commerce. ⁶
4. ZATCA. Register for zakat and income tax, and for VAT once taxable supplies pass SAR 375,000 a year. E-invoicing (Fatoora) applies to your invoices.
5. GOSI and Qiwa. GOSI handles social insurance; Qiwa handles employment contracts and work permits. Your Saudization band under Nitaqat starts with your first hires and decides which Qiwa services you can use.
6. Bank account and Iqamas. NEOM's FAQ asks even joint ventures for a bank account in their own name, so expect the same of any supplier. Staff then need Iqamas through Muqeem.

Each step has its own service page if you want the detail: MISA investment registration, the Commercial Registration and its annual confirmation, ZATCA VAT and e-invoicing, GOSI, Qiwa and Nitaqat, a Saudi corporate bank account, and work visas and Iqamas.

Your documents decide the timeline more than the ministries do. Two of our files for Pakistani shareholders took 25 days and 114 days from MISA to CR. Most delays we see are document mistakes. One new trap: since the 13th edition of its guide, MISA also asks for the parent company's CR when the parent's nationality differs from the applying shareholder's. ⁶

The handover from MISA to the CR is the step where most files stall. If you would rather not run that part yourself, our desk handles it: you send PDFs, and our own employee in Saudi Arabia deals with the counters. You can see the files we have completed.

Activity rules that catch NEOM bidders

MISA's Investor Guide (13th edition) sets extra conditions for several activities NEOM suppliers register, and they decide whether you can own 100% of the Saudi company. ⁶

The trading row is the one that surprises equipment suppliers. If you only want to sell into a few NEOM packages, supplying through a Saudi distributor or a tier-1's procurement team is often cheaper than meeting the trading conditions yourself. Our page on the Saudi trading licence and its conditions covers the full set.

The RHQ rule: does it apply to NEOM work?

Saudi Arabia's regional headquarters (RHQ) rule has, since 1 January 2024, stopped government entities, authorities, institutions and government-affiliated funds from contracting with foreign companies whose regional headquarters is outside the Kingdom, subject to exemptions the buyer must request on the Etimad platform before tendering. ⁷

The exemptions, as reported in February 2026 ⁷:

• Contracts with an estimated value of SAR 1 million or less are outside the rule.
• A bid from a company without an RHQ can be accepted if it is the only technically compliant bid.
• It can also be accepted if it ranks among the best technically and is at least 25% cheaper than the next bid.
• The buyer, not the supplier, applies for the exemption on Etimad, for a project, several projects or a set period.

NEOM is a PIF-owned company, not a ministry, and the published rule names government bodies and funds. We have not found an official statement on whether NEOM's own tenders apply it. So treat it as a question for each tender: read the eligibility clause, and ask the buyer in the clarification window if it is silent. Tenders from ministries and authorities on Etimad fall squarely inside the rule.

A regional headquarters is a large commitment, so it rarely makes sense for one NEOM package. It does make sense if you bid for Saudi government work across the region. MISA expects at least 15 full-time staff within a year, 3 of them at executive director or VP level, and in return offers a renewable 30-year tax incentive on qualifying income. Most groups choose Riyadh for their RHQ. Our regional headquarters guide sets out the conditions and the exemptions in full.

Local content: how LCGPA rules affect your bid

The Local Content and Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA) sets the local content rules that Saudi government tenders must apply. Under Council of Ministers Resolution 245 (2019), buyers must apply a mandatory list of national products, a 10% price preference for products made in Saudi Arabia and, in high-value contracts, a local content weight in the financial evaluation. ⁸

What those mechanisms do to a bid, in plain terms:

• Mandatory list. Products on LCGPA's list must be bought from Saudi manufacturers. A supply bid that ignores the list is excluded for those items.
• Price preference. A foreign-made product is evaluated as if it cost 10% more than the price in your bid.
• Local content weight. In high-value non-supply contracts the financial score is 60% price and 40% local content: your company's baseline, the target you commit to, and a bonus for listed companies.
• Minimum local content. On designated projects a bidder below the baseline is disqualified at the technical stage.

The regulation defines "government agency" as ministries, authorities, public corporations and similar bodies. NEOM's supplier page doesn't mention local content at all. ^{1 8} So check each NEOM or giga-project tender for local content clauses rather than assuming either way. The practical lesson holds regardless: a Saudi entity with Saudi staff and Saudi suppliers scores better than a foreign bidder flying people in, and that gap widens on high-value packages.

Five ways into NEOM work, compared

A foreign company can win NEOM business in five ways: as a direct supplier registered on NEOM's portal, as a subcontractor to a tier-1 contractor, through a joint venture with a Saudi partner, through its own Saudi LLC, or through a branch or MISA temporary registration tied to one contract.

Direct supplier

Direct supply suits companies selling something NEOM buys in its own name, such as port equipment, IT systems or specialist services. It is the cheapest route to start: register, keep the profile current and answer RFQs quickly. Its weakness is that you control nothing after registering. Treat NEOM's portal as one channel alongside the tier-1 route, never the only one.

Subcontractor to a tier-1 contractor

Subcontracting to a tier-1 contractor is, in our view, the better first route for most small and mid-sized foreign firms: a main contractor buys throughout a build, while NEOM's own team buys tender by tender. Approach the contractors with live Oxagon and port packages. Expect them to ask for the same Saudi registrations NEOM would, and read the payment clause closely. Check whether your subcontract passes the client's risk down to you: if NEOM pays the tier-1 late or terminates its contract, what happens to yours?

Joint venture with a Saudi partner

A joint venture with a Saudi company combines the partner's local track record and local content with your technical capability. NEOM's FAQ shows it accepts joint ventures that have no CR, provided they hold a zakat certificate and a bank account in the joint venture's name. ¹ Agree the split of work, the exit terms and who controls the bank mandate before the bid, not after the award.

A Saudi LLC of your own

A foreign-owned LLC suits a company that will bid again and again, at NEOM and elsewhere. It holds its own CR, VAT number and Saudization band, and it limits the parent's liability. For NEOM suppliers who expect more than one package, we often recommend an LLC instead of a branch. See our guide to forming a foreign-owned LLC in Saudi Arabia.

Branch or temporary registration

A branch suits a parent company that will deliver one contract itself and wants the contract in its own name. MISA's temporary registration is narrower still. It is for foreign companies that have already obtained a government or semi-government contract, needs the signed contract or the authority's letter, and ends when the contract ends. ⁶ The trade-offs are covered on our branch office registration page.

Example: how a mid-size contractor would approach this

Take a mid-size MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) subcontractor based in Lahore, with HVAC and electrical references from projects in Pakistan and the Gulf, and no Saudi entity. Its realistic route into NEOM work runs from cheap, reversible steps to the one expensive commitment:

1. Supplier registration first. It registers on NEOM's portal in its MEP category, with its SECP certificate and last year's accounts. Registration is free and needs no Saudi entity, so this costs only time, but on its own it rarely produces an invitation.
2. Tier-1 contractors in parallel. MEP packages on a large build are usually let by the main contractor, so the firm approaches tier-1s holding live packages and asks to go through their subcontractor prequalification. Most will want a Saudi CR and VAT number before they award.
3. A Saudi LLC once a package is close. Remote design support can still be invoiced from Lahore, with the Saudi payer withholding tax. The trigger for an LLC is a subcontract that puts the firm's own crews on site for months. Under the Pakistan–Saudi treaty, staff working in the Kingdom for more than six months in any 12 create a Saudi taxable presence anyway.
4. Registrations in order. The Pakistani side comes first: the State Bank of Pakistan route through its bank, then SECP papers certified and apostilled. Then MISA registration, the CR, National Address and Chamber membership, ZATCA, GOSI and Qiwa, the bank account, and finally work visas and Iqamas for the site team.

The order matters because the LLC is the step with fixed costs. Formed before a real package, it carries tax filings and the annual CR confirmation with no revenue behind them; formed too late, it can hold up mobilisation, since two of our files for Pakistani shareholders took 25 and 114 days from MISA to CR. Our guide to forming a Saudi company from Pakistan covers the SBP and apostille steps in detail.

Picking between these five routes is the decision most worth a second opinion. If you would like a second opinion on your route before you register, our fixed-fee process starts with a free 20–30 minute call.

Pros and cons of chasing NEOM work

NEOM is worth pursuing for firms that fit Oxagon's port and industrial buildout and can wait for invitations. It is a poor bet for firms whose case depended on The Line or Trojena, or that cannot carry slow payment cycles.

Risks to price in before you bid

Five risks decide whether NEOM work pays off for a foreign supplier, and each one is cheaper to handle in the contract or the cash-flow plan before the bid than after the award.

Reprioritisation and termination. NEOM ended two of Webuild's contracts in 2026. In both cases Webuild said NEOM would reimburse costs incurred to the termination date plus early-termination costs such as demobilisation. ⁵ That is the clause to read first in any NEOM contract or subcontract. If you are a subcontractor, check that your contract passes the same protection down to you, because the tier-1's recovery does not automatically become yours.

Payment terms. NEOM doesn't publish standard payment terms. Ask for them in the RFQ stage, price your working capital for slow cycles, and avoid pay-when-paid clauses you can't survive. A Saudi bank account in the contracting entity's name is a basic requirement; NEOM's FAQ demands one even for joint ventures. ¹

Competition. Any company can register, and NEOM chooses who bids. Saudi-based firms with a local content score start ahead on government-style evaluations. Your edge has to be references and a specific capability, not enthusiasm for the vision.

Fraud. Unsolicited emails inviting companies to "register for NEOM projects" have circulated from domains other than neom.com. NEOM's own portal links go only to GEP. ¹

Home-country rules. Investing in a Saudi company is outward investment under your own country's rules. In Pakistan that falls under chapter 20 of the State Bank of Pakistan's Foreign Exchange Manual, and our guide to forming a Saudi company from Pakistan walks through it step by step; in India, the 2022 Overseas Investment rules; in Bangladesh, the 2022 equity-investment-abroad rules. Our Pakistan, India and Bangladesh pages explain each route.

Mistakes that stall NEOM supplier files

A NEOM supplier file can stall on any of 7 preparation mistakes before NEOM's procurement team ever looks at it. We check for each of them before anything is submitted:

• Registering through a link that didn't come from neom.com, or assuming a GEP account with another buyer covers NEOM
• Choosing a category for how it sounds rather than what you invoice for
• A Saudi CR whose activities don't cover the work you are bidding for
• Names and numbers that differ between the home CR, the financial statements and the MISA file
• Registering for VAT late after the first Saudi invoices; late VAT registration is the penalty we see most
• A pitch built around The Line in a year when NEOM is buying for Oxagon
• Signing a subcontract without reading the termination and payment clauses against the main contract

When NEOM is the wrong target

NEOM is the wrong first target if your product needs a city full of residents, if your case depended on The Line or Trojena, or if you can't carry the cost of waiting for a first invitation, for which NEOM publishes no timeline. The same Saudi entity can bid for ministry and authority tenders on Etimad, sell to private Saudi buyers, or work for PIF's other four giga-projects.

Our view for most service firms: build a Saudi client base outside the giga-projects first, and treat NEOM as a second channel. A company that exists only to win one giga-project's work carries all of that project's reprioritisation risk.

Other Saudi giga-projects and events buying now

PIF lists five giga-projects: NEOM, Red Sea Global, Qiddiya, ROSHN and Diriyah. ³ Each is a separate developer, so a NEOM supplier registration does not cover the others; ask each one how it registers suppliers. Two fixed-date events add to the demand. Expo 2030 Riyadh runs from 1 October 2030 to 31 March 2031, and Saudi Arabia hosts the 2034 FIFA World Cup. ⁹

Unlike parts of NEOM, the two events have fixed dates, which makes them easier to plan around. The Saudi company, VAT number and bank account you set up for NEOM work serve all of them. Our PRO and compliance service keeps those registrations current between bids.

NEOM supplier readiness checklist

Work through this checklist in order before you register on NEOM's supplier portal. Each item removes one reason a supplier file stalls later.

1. Confirm that your offer fits what NEOM is buying in 2026: Oxagon, the port, the data centre, utilities, roads.
2. Choose one primary category and list three references that prove it.
3. Decide your route: direct, tier-1 subcontract, joint venture, LLC, or branch or temporary registration.
4. Check the MISA conditions for your activity (engineering consulting, professional, trading).
5. Collect your home CR, articles, the last financial year's statements and the parent-company CR where needed, and apostille or legalise them.
6. If you need a Saudi entity, complete MISA, the CR, the National Address and the Chamber file.
7. Register with ZATCA, plan VAT and e-invoicing, and open a Saudi bank account in the entity's name.
8. Set up GOSI and Qiwa, and plan Saudi hires for Nitaqat before the first visas.
9. Write a one-page local content statement covering Saudi staff and Saudi spend.
10. Register on NEOM's portal through neom.com, complete every field and answer the questionnaire fast.
11. Build a list of tier-1 contractors on Oxagon and port packages, and approach them in parallel.
12. Before pricing, have a lawyer read each tender's eligibility clause (RHQ, local content) and its payment and termination terms.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. NEOM, Suppliers page, registration steps and FAQ. neom.com
2. NEOM, Oxagon and the Port of NEOM neom.com; The Line neom.com; Our business neom.com
3. Public Investment Fund, "PIF Board of Directors approves PIF 2026-2030 strategy", 15 April 2026 pif.gov.sa; PIF giga-projects pif.gov.sa
4. Saudi Gazette, "PIF governor: No projects cancelled in NEOM", 15 April 2026, reporting his Al Arabiya Business interview. saudigazette.com.sa
5. Webuild, "Update on Trojena contract in Saudi Arabia (Neom)", 25 March 2026 webuildgroup.com; "NEOM, Saudi Arabia: update on Connector High-Speed Line contract", 21 May 2026 webuildgroup.com
6. Ministry of Investment (MISA), Investor Guide, 13th edition (2026): s.3.1.1 registration, s.4.6 business visit visa, s.5.1.1 activity conditions, s.5.1.2 temporary registration for government contracts. misa.gov.sa
7. Arab News, "Saudi Arabia allows exemptions for contracting with firms lacking regional HQ", 22 February 2026. arabnews.com
8. Council of Ministers Resolution 245 (2019), Regulations on Preference for Local Content and Local SMEs and Companies Listed on the Capital Market, English translation published by the Ministry of Finance. mof.gov.sa
9. Expo 2030 Riyadh, official site expo2030riyadh.sa; FIFA, Extraordinary Congress appoints hosts of the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cup, 11 December 2024 inside.fifa.com

How we checked this. Registration details come from NEOM's suppliers page and FAQ, and the status of Oxagon, the port, the data centre and The Line from NEOM's own pages, all read on 16 October 2026. The strategy comes from PIF, the governor's words from Saudi Gazette, and the contract terminations from Webuild's own press releases. The Saudi registration rules come from MISA's Investor Guide (13th edition), the local content mechanisms from the regulation text, and the RHQ exemptions from Arab News, because the Etimad exemption process has no public official page we could open. Withholding tax rates follow ZATCA's withholding tax guideline (May 2026), and the 183-day test ZATCA's circular 2303001 on permanent establishments (May 2023). We left out contract values, cost estimates for The Line and reports we could not trace to a primary source, and we name no tier-1 contractors whose NEOM awards we could not confirm.