Saudi Arabia abandons 170-km Mirror Line megaproject after $50 bln spent

September 8, 2026 at 01:16 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Saudi Arabia has abandoned the Mirror Line horizontal skyscraper city project after spending more than $50 billion on initial phases. The kingdom is now paying billions to terminate existing agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal. The 170-kilometer twin-tower project was envisioned to house nine million people.

Key Facts

Saudi Arabia spent more than $50 billion on the Mirror Line project before abandoning it.
The project was officially suspended in September 2025 by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
In February 2026, Saudi Arabia announced a partnership with DataVolt to build AI data centers at the Mirror Line harbor.
The Mirror Line was designed as two parallel mirrored skyscrapers 170 kilometers long and about 500 meters high.

Project Abandonment

Saudi authorities abandoned the Mirror Line megaproject after spending more than $50 billion on its first phases. The Wall Street Journal reported that the kingdom is now directing additional billions toward terminating existing agreements. The project was presented several years ago as a city of the future with intelligent infrastructure, robots, and zero-carbon energy. It was expected to house nine million people, with a giant complex of two parallel mirrored skyscrapers 170 kilometers long and about 500 meters high.

Suspension and Costs

In September 2025, the Saudi Public Investment Fund officially suspended all construction work on the Mirror Line. By that time, more than $50 billion had been spent on the project, about 10% of its originally stated total budget. Only a few concrete structures rose in the desert, and the futuristic city never materialized.

Shift to AI Infrastructure

In February 2026, Saudi Arabia announced a partnership with DataVolt, a company specializing in data centers. The parties plan to build a complex of AI data centers in the area of the Mirror Line harbor. The territory that was to become the world's most futuristic city is gradually being reoriented toward AI industrial infrastructure. Seawater from the Red Sea is planned to be used for cooling the equipment.