The LEAP 2025 technology exhibition has kicked off in Saudi Arabia. According to OneArabia, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha announced that the volume of investments in the country’s AI sector from companies from different countries will amount to about $14.9 billion. The minister noted that this will help accelerate the development of the tech sector and accelerate the transition to an innovative economy based on AI, in line with the goals of the Vision 2030 program, which is designed to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuel extraction.
Specifically, Groq and Aramco Digital announced a $1.5 billion investment to expand AI cloud computing to make Saudi Arabia an AI leader. The companies plan to build the world’s largest AI hub in the country using Groq’s accelerators. Lenovo and Alat, a Saudi Arabian public investment fund, confirmed plans to invest $2 billion in an advanced AI and robotics manufacturing center and Lenovo’s regional headquarters in Riyadh.
Image source: mcit.gov.sa
Google plans to create an AI infrastructure center in Saudi Arabia to meet regional and international demand for AI services. Earlier, it was reported that AWS plans to spend $5.3 billion to create a new cloud region by 2026, as well as help train local developers. Aramco Digital, Armada, and Microsoft plan to launch container data centers for edge computing in Saudi Arabia. By the end of 2024, Microsoft has already built three data centers there — investments of $2.1 billion were announced two years ago.
Image source: mcit.gov.sa
Databricks is committing $300 million to Platform-as-a-Service solutions to support application developers and advance data engineering expertise in the country. SambaNova announced a $140 million commitment to develop advanced AI infrastructure, strengthening Saudi Arabia’s role as a regional innovation hub. KKR and Gulf Data Hub announced significant investments in data centers, adding up to 300 MW of new capacity.
Salesforce is investing $500 million to expand its Hyperforce platform in Saudi Arabia to serve regional customers. Tencent Cloud is investing $150 million to launch its cloud region with integrated AI capabilities. Alibaba Cloud is launching an AI capability program in the country with Tuwaiq Academy and STC to train local talent in cutting-edge technologies. Finally, Qualcomm announced the availability of the ALLaM large language model on the Qualcomm Cloud AI platform and also introduced the ALLaM AI PC solution for developers.