Aramco inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Qualcomm to ramp up the development of the industrial 4G, 5G and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) ecosystem across Saudi Arabia.

The chip company and state-owned Aramco stated the tie-up includes using 450MHz cellular technology as well as the design of hardware, software and services needed for the deployment of an end-to-end IoT for industrial and enterprise use cases.  

Durga Malladi, SVP and GM, technology planning and edge solutions for Qualcomm, explained by using cellular technology, high performance computing, and AI the two companies plan to elevate industrial IoT across the country.

He noted 450MHz spectrum is needed “to provide ubiquitous and resilient coverage that will be necessary to connect the millions of intelligent edge devices poised to come online”.

Financial terms and the length of the MoU were not disclosed.

Aramco is one of the largest companies in the world based on market capitalisation. It created Aramco Digital in early 2023 as part of a move to diversify its operations and foster new technologies.

It signed a similar MoU last month with chip company GCT Semiconductor to help build a nationwide 4G and 5G ecosystem to provision mission-critical and public safety networks.