{"id":28221,"date":"2026-03-05T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=28221"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:26:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:26:54","slug":"the-170-km-science-fiction-city-no-longer-exists-it-has-been-confirmed-that-the-line-is-being-drastically-scaled-back-and-neom-is-becoming-a-server-farm-for-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/the-170-km-science-fiction-city-no-longer-exists-it-has-been-confirmed-that-the-line-is-being-drastically-scaled-back-and-neom-is-becoming-a-server-farm-for-ai\/28221\/","title":{"rendered":"The 170 km \u201cscience fiction city\u201d no longer exists: it has been confirmed that The Line is being drastically scaled back and Neom is becoming a \u201cserver farm\u201d for AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a major reset, Saudi Arabia is quietly shrinking its desert city of the future<\/a>. Neom and its signature linear city The Line are being redesigned as a much smaller project built around data centers instead of a 170 kilometer strip of housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched in 2017 as the showpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s Vision 2030 plan<\/a>, the project promised a car-free city for about nine million residents on the Red Sea coast. Now, with oil revenues under pressure and costs looming for Expo 2030 and the planned 2034 FIFA World Cup, planners are being pushed to back projects that earn money and keep the lights on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From mirror city to server racks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In its original form, The Line<\/a> was marketed as a single mirrored structure that would run roughly 170 kilometers through the desert, with no private cars and services stacked vertically. Promotional videos showed a wall of glass, high-speed trains, and parks suspended between towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: Aging changes the fate of your cells, and now we know how to reverse it<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to reports, that idea is now being cut down to a fraction of its length and refocused on digital infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence. Instead of millions of residents, much of the excavated land could host data centers, giant warehouses of computers that store information and run online services, cooled by seawater from the nearby Red Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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