Global Tech Firms Vow to Invest Over $11.9 Billion in Saudi Arabia

Tech companies from across the world have been making a beeline to Saudi Arabia announcing investments to the tune of over $11.9 billion on the first day of the four-day LEAP 2024 exhibition in Riyadh on Monday.

According to the Kingdom’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Amazon Web Services will invest $5.3 billion in Saudi Arabia to create a high-capacity cloud region, and Data Vault, a data modelling design pattern used to build a data warehouse for enterprise-scale analytics, will invest $5 billion to build sustainable and innovative data centres, with a capacity of more than 300 megawatts, the ministry said on its official X account.

Besides these two major investments, ServiceNow, an American software firm with headquarters in California that develops a cloud computing platform to help companies manage digital workflows for enterprise operations, will invest $500 million to launch its first data centre in the region in Saudi Arabia to localise its services, in addition to training national talents and developing their skills.

IBM is another global tech firm which will invest $250 million to launch its first regional software development centre and Dell Technologies intends to open its first manufacturing, distribution and order fulfilment centre in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, in Saudi Arabia.

Aramco’s MetaBrain too said that it will create the world’s first generative artificial intelligence model in the industrial sector, the ministry added.

Datadog Academy will establish its first cloud application security solutions academy in the Kingdom, and Uipath announced the establishment of its first regional automation academy to train, upskill, and foster Saudi talent, and Zoho Corp announced the opening of its first two Middle East data centres in Saudi Arabia to further reinforce the Kingdom’s position as thriving digital hub.

Even Chinese companies including Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba Cloud SCCC (Saudi Cloud Computing Company), China Mobile International, DJI, J&T Express, and SenseTime MEA also participated in the event.

Supporting New Technologies

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said the event supports deep and emerging technologies, innovation, and cloud computing in the kingdom and worldwide.

Alswaha also highlighted the unwavering support that HRH Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman has provided for the Saudi and global tech sectors and for the growth and prosperity of the digital economy, as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

“The investments are part of the Crown Prince’s empowerment of Saudi’s burgeoning technology sector amid unprecedented growth in the country’s digital economy, Generative AI, biological and healthtech, quantitative science, space, satellites, fintech, and open sources,” he said.

According to Alswaha, these investments will help the Kingdom to develop Saudi digital skills and supporting tech start-ups. The Kingdom expects the investments will help consolidate its position as the largest market and digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, he said.