[From left, Aramco Senior Vice President of Digital & Information Technology Nabil Nuaim, Samsung Electronics President & Head of Networks Business Woojune Kim, Aramco President & CEO Amin H. Nasser, and Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President & Head of R&D June Moon]

Aramco has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., which sets forth preliminary plans for a strategic collaboration that would localize an industrial 5G technology ecosystem, starting with private networks, in Saudi Arabia.

The proposed collaboration aims to contribute to the digital transformation of various industrial sectors in Saudi Arabia, such as energy, petrochemical, and manufacturing, by leveraging advanced 4G and 5G technologies capable of providing secure, fast and reliable communications to satisfy business critical requirements of industries.

The companies intend to help realize advanced industrial 5G use cases with mission critical communications. It follows the recent launch of Aramco Digital Company, which aims to accelerate digital transformation within the Kingdom, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.