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RIYADH—Boeing is exploring Saudi Arabia as a potential alternative supplier for titanium as the aerospace industry attempts to move away from traditional suppliers of the material such as Russia.
The kingdom is becoming a major supplier of the material and is further investing in metallurgical capabilities such as the smelting and forging of the material as part of its Vision 2030 economic diversification plans and its ambition to be a global supplier of the material. Saudi Arabia has already built a titanium sponge capability, a process that can produce extremely pure titanium that can be used in aerospace and electronics but is very expensive. Some of Boeing’s suppliers already use Saudi-based titanium sponge and process it to make it aviation grade.
Boeing’s interest is in the downstream titanium, Asaad AlJomoai, president of Boeing Saudi Arabia, told journalists Feb. 9 on the second day of the World Defense Show here. This downstream-stage titanium “needs a lot of processing, certification, development and investment to get it to an aviation grade,” AlJomoai explained, and the use of this supply depends on the “feasibility of the business cases.”
Three years ago, Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding with Tasnee, a Saudi-based private industrial, chemical, and petrochemical company, to explore the titanium value chain.
“Boeing is working closely with the Kingdom to identify all these potential aviation-related projects that will make [the] Kingdom a global supplier, and eventually we might become an offtaker,” he said.
Saudi Arabia wants to be a part of the global supply chain, but the country also now must decide on its approach to downstream titanium.
“You cannot do everything because that’s not anyone’s strongest point ... you have to be focused, you have to be specialized in your competitive advantage,” AlJomoai said.
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