How Saudi Arabia shaped Silicon Valley

Elon Musk. Donald Trump. Bill Gates. Sam Altman. Larry Ellison. Alex Karp. Jared Kushner. Mr. Beast. Jeffrey Epstein… Those are just a few of the people who have been friendly with, and often done business with, Saudi Arabia over the last decade. Today on the show: how one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes became one of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors – and what that’s meant for the rest of us. To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free,

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How Saudi Arabia shaped Silicon Valley is an episode from Throughline by NPR.

This episode is 49:39 long.

This episode was published on Mar 26, 2026.

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