The next LEAP is East: How investment corridors are redirecting growth

In 2026, we’re launching LEAP East – creating a new tech hub in Hong Kong. It’s a second vantage point for our global LEAP community, and it’ll sit within a rapidly expanding investment corridor between the GCC and the APAC. 

You can feel it in small moments right now. Riyadh founders fly to Singapore for manufacturing partners; Seoul robotics teams demo hardware in Jeddah; Japanese climate-tech startups find early adopters among GCC utilities. 

Because the global map is tilting; a door easing open. 

And on the other side is a corridor that barely existed a decade ago. Gulf-Asia links are strengthening faster than most people realise, and what began as trade in energy is widening into technology, entrepreneurship and long-term capital deployment. If you’re building something, you need to pay attention.

The data shows a structural shift (not a one-off spike) 

According to Asia House, Gulf-Asia trade hit USD $516 billion in 2024, up 14.4% year-on-year – and nearly double the Gulf’s trade with Western economies over the same period. China alone accounted for $257 billion, edging past the Gulf’s combined flows with the US, UK and Eurozone.

This is a sign of rebalancing at scale. 

Even the 2023 dip (a 12% fall driven mainly by lower oil prices) bounced back quickly. The rebound aligns with Asia House’s forecast that total Gulf-Asia trade could reach around $802 billion by 2030, with Emerging Asia becoming the Gulf’s largest trading partner before the decade closes.

Energy still anchors the corridor, but it’s not the only story 

Asia absorbs around 85% of the Gulf’s hydrocarbon exports. That long arc of demand has always bound the two regions together.

But what’s growing fastest today is non-oil collaboration. Asia House’s 2024 analysis highlights expanding cooperation in renewables, hydrogen, solar, sustainable tech, capital markets, construction and digital sectors – a move from dependence to diversification.

For founders and operators, this means the corridor is no longer defined by fuel, but by shared industrial ambition. 

Entrepreneurs and private wealth are moving too

Importantly for our LEAP community, the momentum we’re seeing isn’t just institutional. HSBC’s Global Entrepreneurial Wealth Report 2025 (based on almost 3,000 business owners across 15 markets) shows 59% are diversifying wealth internationally, 57% are considering relocation, and 49% are planning to expand into new markets.

And the report highlights Asia and the emerging Asia-Middle East corridor as key routes for this mobility. There’s top-down alignment from governments and sovereign funds, and bottom-up movement from founders and family capital – a rare moment when both gears turn in the same direction.

Institutional capital is building the long-term bridges

Recent research from APREA notes that Middle Eastern institutional investors are pivoting towards Asia-Pacific. They’re channeling capital into real assets as part of long-term diversification strategies. Real assets (that’s physical things like data centres, logistics infrastructure and industrial projects) are slow to move, but powerful when they do – because ecosystems follow.

If sovereigns, pension funds, and major institutions are embedding themselves into Asia’s growth story, that creates a durable foundation for cross-regional tech and investment activity.

What does this mean for the next generation of tech industry builders? 

For founders:

• Look east and west when mapping supply chains, talent and early adopters.
• Asia’s manufacturing depth plus the Gulf’s scale of infrastructure spending creates unusual opportunities for hardware, robotics, mobility, clean energy and AI-adjacent companies.

For operators:

• Cross-regional knowledge becomes a differentiator. Teams fluent in both markets can adapt products faster and build partnerships competitors struggle to match.

For corporates:

• Technology scouting across both regions is becoming a baseline. Executives who treat these markets as linked (not distant) can spot trends earlier.

For governments and ecosystem builders:

• This is a moment to accelerate bilateral programmes in research, skills, venture funding and advanced tech regulation.

LEAP East will be a key connector 

We recognised that Riyadh was a natural global meeting point for tech – and built LEAP, the most-attended tech event in the world. Now we’re launching LEAP East, to extend that connective tissue into Asia’s tech and innovation landscape. 

Take this opportunity to meet new opportunities on the ground and in person; at an event that holds the energy of the global tech industry, and truly drives impact. 

We can’t wait to see you there.