Technology news and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
Technology News and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
Luma AI expands into Saudi Arabia with a new Riyadh office to support HUMAIN Create, develop Arabic-native AI models, and strengthen regional partnerships. The move includes collaboration with Publicis Groupe Middle East and leverages large-scale AI infrastructure to accelerate generative AI adoption across MENA.
Microsoft will enable customers to run cloud workloads locally in Saudi Arabia from Q4 2026, strengthening the Kingdom’s AI and digital infrastructure ecosystem while supporting Vision 2030 goals around sovereign cloud, innovation, and large-scale AI adoption.
Saudi Arabia is positioning itself to become a major exporter of AI tokens by expanding data centre capacity and AI infrastructure, leveraging energy resources and Vision 2030 investments to strengthen its role in the global AI economy.
Saudi Arabia will host the WAM Saudi Summit & Expo 2026 in Riyadh, bringing together global technology leaders, manufacturers, and investors to explore AI-driven manufacturing, smart logistics, and next-generation mobility, reinforcing the Kingdom’s ambition to position itself as a leading advanced manufacturing and industrial innovation hub.
Saudi leaders and Oracle executives highlighted the Kingdom’s AI ambitions at Oracle AI World Tour Riyadh, noting AI’s role in digital transformation under Vision 2030. With over $40 billion planned investment and strong data sovereignty focus, Saudi Arabia aims to become a global AI hub.
Saudi Arabia launched SMAI 2 to strengthen national data and AI capabilities through coordinated public-sector training, building on earlier programs that reached over one million Saudis and supporting responsible AI adoption across 11 government ministries.
Saudi Arabia concluded a major digital empowerment forum with the launch of a SAR100 million lending portfolio for non-profits, alongside new advisory and revenue-building initiatives. The event brought together over 3,000 participants to advance digital transformation, data protection, and impact measurement, strengthening the sector’s financial resilience under Vision 2030.
Jordanian technologist Tareq Amin has been named among the world’s top ten AI leaders for 2026, recognized for leading a PIF-backed, full-stack AI platform and shaping Saudi Arabia’s long-term artificial intelligence ambitions through national-scale innovation.
Manara launched the Cloud Catalyst Forum in Riyadh, bringing together Saudi hiring partners and emerging engineers, featuring a 1,000-participant AI hackathon and deep AWS collaboration. The initiative strengthens cloud and AI talent pathways aligned with Vision 2030, backed by a $2.8 million AWS training commitment.
IKEA Saudi Arabia and Bahrain has signed a three-year agreement with HITEK AI to deploy the SAFETEK HSSE digital platform, enabling real-time safety, compliance, and risk management across regional operations while modernizing policies, procedures, and employee engagement in health, safety, security, and environmental governance.