Technology News and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
Technology News and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
o The new suite of enhanced global dining, entertainment and travel benefits has been designed for cardholders of Mastercard’s World,…
Katonic AI and AqlanX have launched the Gulf region’s first sovereign AI Centre of Excellence, enabling the UAE to develop and deploy AI models entirely within national infrastructure. Backed by UOWD, Lakeba and DoxAI, the initiative supports the UAE’s AI Strategy 2031 and strengthens national control over data, research, commercialisation and next-generation innovation.
Hub71 has partnered with the UAE–India CEPA Council to strengthen cross-border startup expansion and support India’s most promising founders as they scale in Abu Dhabi. Through the Start-Up Series, Immersion Programme and Access Programme, the collaboration creates structured soft-landing pathways, enabling two-way innovation exchange and advancing CEPA’s entrepreneurship and digital-economy goals.
du has marked the strong uptake of its Cloud Miner service and announced a second auction hosted on Online Auction. With high engagement from crypto-interested residents, the service continues to democratize access to Bitcoin mining through secure, telco-backed infrastructure. The new auction expands compute availability and reinforces growing demand for regulated digital asset participation in the UAE.
Sri Lanka’s AI Asia Summit 2025 showcased the country’s rapid progress toward becoming South Asia’s AI innovation hub. With the launch of the Xavier robotics platform, strong government participation and industry-wide demonstrations of applied AI, the summit highlighted Sri Lanka’s readiness to move from experimentation to large-scale deployment across sectors.
ABHI has expanded its operations in Saudi Arabia through a partnership with Bayt, enabling employees to access earned wages ahead of payday and improving financial ease for workers. The deal supports broader financial inclusion goals and aligns with Saudi Vision 2030. ABHI continues to grow regionally, including launching a microfinance bank with TPL Corp.
Aramco and Pasqal have deployed Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer, powered by neutral-atom technology and installed in Dhahran. The system, backed by Wa’ed Ventures, will accelerate quantum research and industrial applications across energy and materials. The partnership includes training and research programs to build Saudi Arabia’s quantum talent and strengthen its technology ecosystem.
Initial Saudi Group has launched the country’s first mobile engineering service, offering SMEs rapid, data-driven building maintenance supported by AI, IoT and 24/7 monitoring. With nationwide coverage and predictive maintenance capabilities, the service aims to deliver speed, reliability and cost efficiency while aligning with Saudi Vision 2030’s focus on digitalization and SME support.
Center3 has entered a colocation partnership with Sahara Net, enabling the ICT firm to deliver dedicated hosting services from Center3’s facilities across Saudi Arabia. The deal supports both companies’ goals of expanding digital infrastructure, enhancing service reliability and driving the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 ambitions for a scalable, interconnected and innovation-ready digital ecosystem.
Saudi Arabia’s Communications Ministry, together with GO Telecom, has launched the GO AI HUB platform—a unified national gateway for discovering, comparing and adopting AI solutions. The platform supports both government and private sectors, aligns with Vision 2030 goals and enhances the Kingdom’s position as a regional innovation and digital-economy leader.