Saudi Arabia reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei to bolster investments in cloud and smart infrastructure in the country, one of several deals struck with Chinese companies during a visit by President Xi Jinping.

Reuters reported the MoU with Huawei involves plans to establish smart industrial infrastructure in key cities in the nation, along with cloud computing moves.

In a statement, Saudi Arabia highlighted a desire by both nations to “develop and strengthen” ties across several sectors. Huawei’s deal is one of 34 signed covering fields including green energy, IT, cloud services, transport and medical industries.

Officials hailed the agreements as contributing to moves to “build a more diversified and sustainable economy”, while advancing Saudi Arabia’s regional goals and its Vision 2030 strategy.

Various media outlets highlighted censure of Huawei by the US as part of a wider crackdown over perceived security risks involving Chinese technology.

The vendor faced a sales ban by the US Federal Communications Commission after the authority raised concerns around security threats.