Eight industrial cities have been built, with the two principal ones at Jubail on the Arabian Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea. Others are scattered across the Kingdom. These sites were chosen for their proximity to sources of raw materials and ease of access to major domestic and international consumer markets. All have been built with emphasis on environmental and wildlife conservation.

Jubail is the largest industrial city. It accommodates more than 30,000 workers and has 17 major plants and other industrial facilities, as well as a dedicated desalination plant, and a busy seaport. It also has a vocational training institute and a college. Yanbu is a major industrial site with a modern port from which products manufactured locally and in other areas of the Kingdom are exported. There are three major refineries, a petrochemical complex and many manufacturing and support enterprises.The Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) plays a central role in encouraging private sector participation in the nation's economic growth. Established in 1976 by the government as a shareholding company with an initial capital of 2.66 billion U.S. dollars, SABIC now has an invested capital of close to 30 billion U.S. dollars. SABIC quickly became the backbone of Saudi Arabia's successful industrialization. By 1994, it had 15 major plants operating in the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu as well as in Jeddah, with an annual production of 13 million tons. In 1999 marketed tonnage rose by four percent over the 1998 figure, to more than 20 million metric tons, with total production for 1999 standing at 25.5 million metric tons of basic and intermediate chemicals, polymers, plastics, industrial gases, fertilizers, steel and other metals.

Some of these products are sold on domestic and international markets, and SABIC's total revenue from sales in 1999 exceeded 5.33 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of three percent. Other SABIC products are used as feedstock by secondary and support industries to produce consumer goods. These industries, all owned and operated by the private sector, produce a variety of consumer and industrial goods. SABIC itself employs some 16,000 people, over 72 percent of them Saudi nationals, with 90 percent Saudization in some plants.