On the shore of the Red Sea in winter, welding sparks splatter on the construction platform of Jeddah Tower. As the tower crane lifted another box of steel with the "Xianggang" logo to a height of 300 meters, this ill fated super project officially entered the era of "Made in China" triple bombs. From the steel structure skeleton to the glass coating, and then to the strong and resilient steel bars, the names of Chinese companies are firmly engraved in the genes of this future world's tallest building.

The kilometer dream in the desert restarts

The story of Jeddah Tower began in 2013. This skyscraper, with a planned height of over 1000 meters, aims to surpass the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and become the first miracle in human architectural history to break through the kilometer mark.   The turning point will occur in 2023, as Saudi Arabia accelerates its economic diversification strategy and Jeddah Tower is put back on the agenda. In January 2025, the project will officially resume work and grow towards the sky at a rate of one layer every three to four days.

The key to restarting the project lies in finding reliable partners who can overcome technical challenges. Jeddah is located on the edge of a desert, where high temperatures, strong winds, and sandstorms place extreme demands on building materials. When European and American companies hesitate due to technological barriers and cost pressures, Chinese teams enter with mature experience in high-rise buildings.

Cracking the password of super high-rise buildings

The welding deformation of the 180mm thick special steel plate must be controlled at the millimeter level, "said the project manager of Changjiang Precision in the workshop, pointing to the first batch of core components. As the earliest Chinese enterprise to intervene, Changjiang Precision Industry customized ultra thick steel plates for the bottom 25 floors of the tower and developed fully automatic welding equipment, increasing the weld qualification rate to 99.97%.

Following closely behind, Jianghe Group won a large curtain wall order worth 2.012 billion yuan. This company, which has completed the Beijing Bird's Nest curtain wall project, designed a modular curtain wall system for the Jeddah Tower, which can resist strong corrosive environments by the seaside and reduce energy consumption by 30%. The winning bid of Hunan Xianggang completes the last piece of the puzzle in Chinese manufacturing - its high-performance structural steel will support the tower body to break through the key node of 500 meters upwards.

Three countries' enterprises showcase their strengths and form a complete solution from bones to skin. Among them, the contract amount of Jianghe Group accounted for nearly 9% of its revenue in 2024, and overseas orders surged by 57% within a year, making a huge contribution to the Saudi market.

The next decade of cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia

The rise of Jedata coincides with the deep coupling between Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision and China's the Belt and Road initiative. Saudi economist Ahmed Fahd pointed out that "the technological reliability and cost control ability of Chinese enterprises are exactly the support that Saudi Arabia needs most in the wave of infrastructure construction." According to statistics, in 2025, the proportion of building materials and engineering services in the trade volume between China and Saudi Arabia will increase by 12% year-on-year. Keywords: Middle East news, the Belt and Road information

When the Jeddah Tower is finally completed in 2028, tourists will witness a new height made in China while overlooking the Red Sea from the kilometer observation deck. As stated in the report of the China Arab Industrial Research Institute, this tower is not only a pile of concrete, but also a three-dimensional cooperation achievement between China and Saudi Arabia in industrial upgrading, technological standards, and capital integration. In the next decade, from NEOM New City to the Red Sea tourism belt, the imprint of Chinese construction will be deeply embedded in the Middle East skyline.Editor/Yang Meiling