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Microsoft, Huawei and Oracle among $9bn of tech deals announced during LEAP23 in Riyadh
The deals were announced by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah Al-Sawaha. (Supplied)
CAIRO: Saudi Arabia witnessed the signing of $9 billion worth of investment contracts on the first day of the global tech event LEAP23 that began on Feb. 6 in Riyadh.
Aimed at supporting future technology, digital entrepreneurship and tech startups, the deals were announced by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah Al-Sawaha, during his opening speech at the event that will run till Feb. 9.
These deals include Microsoft’s $2.1 billion investment that the tech giant is putting in to develop a super-wide cloud in the Kingdom, while Oracle’s agreed to invest $1.5 billion to establish a new cloud region in the country.
Chinese tech firm Huawei also pumped in $400 million to offer cloud services in the Kingdom, while state oil firm Aramco formed a partnership with Zoom worth $434 million to establish a cloud area. In addition, the event saw the signing of $4.5 billion worth of other deals with a wide range of global and local firms for various sectors.
These investments aim to strengthen the Kingdom’s position as the largest digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa region aligned with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s goal to empower the technology sector.
Al-Sawaha stated that hosting the LEAP23 conference is a global affirmation of the great support directed by the Kingdom to transform the economy into a digital landscape that promises rapid developments in line with Vision 2030.
The conference also witnessed some major announcements including Meta launching the opening of the first Metaverse Academy in MENA, headquartered in Saudi Arabia; WEO Technology and Camel Lab launching Hektar, a multi-content social media app. In addition, MENA Communication and STC announced the launching of Beem – a new application for instant messaging, high-quality voice and video calls, and business features.
Al-Sawaha stressed that the technology sector holds unprecedented opportunities supported by the Crown Prince in sub-sectors including digital economics, Internet of Things, health tech, quantitative sciences, space and satellites, fintech and open sources.
In his opening speech, the minister stated that the event is set to host more than 250,000 attendees, as opposed to 100,000 last year, and will continue to see more investments as the Kingdom holds a $42 billion opportunity platform and stands as the largest technology market in the region.
He added that Saudi Arabia continues to lead the human technical workforce with more than 340,000 workers in the market and female participation in the technical sector reaching 32.5 percent, higher than the average of the EU and Silicon Valley.
Taking place at the Riyadh Front Center for Exhibitions and Conventions, the conference was launched under the title “Towards New Horizons” with more than 400 global and local technology companies.
Microsoft, Huawei and Oracle among $9bn of tech deals announced during LEAP23 in Riyadh
CAIRO: Saudi Arabia witnessed the signing of $9 billion worth of investment contracts on the first day of the global tech event LEAP23 that began on Feb. 6 in Riyadh. Aimed at supporting future technology, digital entrepreneurship and tech startups, the deals were announced by Saudi Arabia’s...
www.arabnews.com
Aramco announces deal with Zoom at LEAP 2023
RIYADH: In line with the Kingdom’s aim to accelerate digital transformation, the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., also known as Saudi Aramco, announced a strategic partnership with Zoom and an increase in funding for Wa’ed Ventures on Feb. 6.
The announcements were made at the second edition of LEAP, a major international technology conference held annually in Saudi Arabia.
With more than 700 speakers from 50 counties and 900 local and international companies in attendance at the Riyadh Front Center for Exhibitions and Conventions, this year’s edition of LEAP represents a huge economic advance in the Kingdom through many partnerships, deals and investment tours.
The strategic partnership with Aramco aims to build Zoom’s first global data center in the Kingdom to support the digital transformation ecosystem.
It is expected to connect to the Zoom global data center network and will serve Saudi Arabia and the region.
The two companies will also explore the joint development of innovative technology solutions for the energy sector.
The partnership aims to contribute to the digital transformation of various market sectors, such as energy, industry, education and healthcare.
Aramco also announced that additional funds had been allocated by the company to Wa’ed Ventures, increasing the size of its Kingdom-focused venture capital arm from $200 million to $500 million.
The increase aims to enable the company to deliver an accelerated investment performance regionally and globally.
Wa’ed Ventures intends to localize global frontier technologies to advance the Kingdom’s innovation ecosystem; expand investments in mid and growth-stage startups; and fund underserved domains such as environmental, social and governance, the metaverse and quantum computing.
Amin Nasser, Aramco’s president and CEO, said: “Our establishment of a diversified network of partners has helped us maintain a track record of reliability, and our new strategic partnership with Zoom is expected to further enable innovative solutions focusing on the digital transformation ecosystem.”
“Furthermore, with an expanded fund size, Wa’ed Ventures aims to facilitate the cross-pollination of innovation between the global and local markets,” he added.
Aramco announces deal with Zoom at LEAP 2023
RIYADH: In line with the Kingdom’s aim to accelerate digital transformation, the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., also known as Saudi Aramco, announced a strategic partnership with Zoom and an increase in funding for Wa’ed Ventures on Feb. 6. The announcements were made at the second edition of LEAP, a...
www.arabnews.com
Oracle to invest $1.5bn in Saudi Arabia, plans cloud region in Riyadh
REINA TAKLAFebruary 06, 2023
- The Kingdom is a very high priority for Oracle, says top official
“Saudi Arabia is a very high priority for Oracle right now,” said Nick Redshaw. “We’re seeing unprecedented growth in the region, which is tremendous and LEAP 2023 will reiterate our commitment to that unprecedented growth with what we think are unprecedented investments and expansion and innovation into the Kingdom and the region.”
Oracle unveiled its expansion plans at LEAP 2023 International Technology Conference, which is taking place in Riyadh from Feb. 6-9.
Redshaw added: “Oracle is going to invest $1.5 billion in Saudi Arabia to meet the unprecedented acceleration of cloud computing and demand that we’re seeing in the Kingdom. We are also going to expand our first (public cloud) region in the Kingdom, which is in Jeddah, to provide incremental capacity to service the current demand.
“In addition, we are opening a new public cloud region in Riyadh.”
The opening of the new region in the Saudi capital will “take our total to six across the Middle East and three regions in the Kingdom,” the official said.
He said the Riyadh region will primarily service the expanding requirements of the Kingdom’s eastern region and Oracle’s government clients who are predominantly based in Riyadh.
The cloud region in Riyadh will join the existing regions in Jeddah and the futuristic city of NEOM.
This investment was earlier included in a memorandum of understanding that was signed during Oracle CEO Safra Catz’s recent visit to Riyadh in the presence of Haytham Al-Ohali, vice minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
“The aim here is to help the government and businesses take advantage of all the latest innovation in the cloud and digital transformation that we can deliver,” said Redshaw.
As part of the MoU, Oracle will work with MCIT and the Communications and Information Technology Commission to establish a commercial and operational model for an additional cloud region in Saudi Arabia that is aligned with the Saudi government’s requirements and local data residency regulations.
Meeting unprecedented demand
“We’re seeing an unprecedented rise in cloud computing across the whole region, particularly in Saudi Arabia,” said Redshaw.
Indeed, according to IDC — a global provider of market intelligence — public cloud spending in Saudi Arabia will increase at a compounded annual growth rate of 26.8 percent over the coming years to reach $3.1 billion in 2026, spurred by organizations looking to leverage the power of the cloud to modernize their critical business applications and become cloud native.
Redshaw continued: “I anticipate it to grow even more rapidly over the next few years.”
With regard to the rise of cloud adoption, he said, it’s all about organizations wanting to transform.
“Cloud adoption is making them more cost-efficient, more secure, more agile, more flexible as businesses as they capitalize on cloud,” he explained. “You’ve got the Kingdom’s demand going up, cloud transformation going up, and then really innovating as businesses on top of that to take advantage of it.”
Creating job opportunities
Asked how the new initiatives are likely to impact the job market, Redshaw explained, that since the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 is continuing at a fast pace, it is enabling businesses to transition to the new digital environment and take advantage of technology to drive business outcomes and innovation.
“Whether it’s Jeddah or Riyadh, what we’re doing is providing the capability to take advantage of that demand which is very strong,” he said.
Redshaw went on to list a couple of measures that Oracle is taking within the Kingdom to foster and promote talent.
“One is around skills enablement and building capability, both in businesses, in engineering, in startups,” he said. “We have a number of programs running where we bring in young individuals, train them, educate them, and then they can go back into the broader technology market and take advantage of that innovation.”
He also mentioned the Oracle Academy where educators from around the globe work with institutions in the Kingdom to build learning programs.
“In addition, we have innovation hubs we’ve built — in Riyadhand the UAE as well,” he continued. “This is where people can meet. We put experts in there. They can brainstorm, train and figure out how to take advantage of all the technology.”
Focus on sustainability
Underscoring its ongoing focus on sustainability, Oracle is committed to powering all its cloud regions worldwide with 100 percent renewable energy by 2025.
Several Oracle cloud regions, including regions in the North and South Americas, and all 10 regions in Europe, are already powered by 100 percent renewable energy, which enables customers to run their computing services more sustainably and with a lower carbon footprint.
To further advance its commitment to sustainable operations, Oracle recycled 99.9 percent of its retired hardware in 2022.
“We’re very proud of the sustainability plan that we have and everything we roll out, we roll out consistently worldwide, including Saudi Arabia,” informed Redshaw.
He added: “We stand committed to our goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy in all the next-generation cloud regions by 2025 and that would include Riyadh, Jeddah, and all the ones we are bringing on board in the region. We also do a lot around the hardware recycling, so that’s our continued effort to reduce e-waste.”
“We also decreased the amount of waste sent to landfill in Oracle-owned buildings by 25 percent per square foot since 2015,” Redshaw continued. “In addition, we do a lot of work around responsible sourcing and by 2025 the aim is that 100 percent of our key suppliers will also have an environmental program in place.”
Not surprisingly, according to him, Oracle is well on its way to achieving its aim of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Redshaw concluded by saying that they apparently found that 95 percent of businesses believe they make more progress toward sustainability and social goals with the help of artificial intelligence.
“When you look at technological capability and how people take advantage of it and innovate, there’s a lot you can do with data and AI to actually make your business more sustainable as well,” he said.
Oracle to invest $1.5bn in Saudi Arabia, plans cloud region in Riyadh
RIYADH: Aiming to meet the growing demand for its cloud services, Oracle plans to open a third public cloud region in Saudi Arabia, the company’s senior vice president, technology cloud, Middle East and Africa, told Arab News in an exclusive interview. “Saudi Arabia is a very high priority for...
www.arabnews.com
What might surprise many people, KSA is one of the most technology adapted nations on the planet with one of the highest internet penetrations in the world and one of the most digital transformed nations on the planet with most services (public and private) having long adopted a digital solution. In many ways, KSA is far ahead of most of Western Europe. I can confirm this as well based on my experiences in both regions.
KSA is also one of the largest investors in digital technology and high-tech solutions in the world.
Why Saudi Arabia is investing in a high-tech future
With a number of ambitious new infrastructure projects, Saudi Arabia is aiming to become one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.
www.weforum.org
How technology will inevitably play an important role in Saudi Arabia
The kingdom recently announced over $6.4bn of investments in future technologies and entrepreneurship at LEAP, the largest tech event in Saudi Arabia.
gulfbusiness.com
Saudi Arabia embraces AI-driven innovation
Saudi Arabia’s, Deputy Minister of Technology, Industry and Digital Capabilities, Dr. Ahmed Al Theneyan, talks about his country’s ambitions to drive innovation and economic growth using advanced digital technologies to deliver on its bold reform program, Vision 2030.
www.wipo.int
Digital Transformation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Highlighting the concept of digital transformation and the many attributes that go along with it, this section focuses on the Kingdom’s progression towards a new and improved method of accelerating the stages of development related to Digital Transformation, by adopting and implementing...
This map illustrates this well:
Ericsson inks partnership to boost 5G, 6G research in Saudi Arabia
One of the reasons why the KSA government handled the Covid-19 pandemic better than most countries in the world.
Saudi Arabia tops the G20 countries in the Digital Competitiveness 2021 Report
Saudi Arabia tops the G20 countries in the Digital Competitiveness 2021 Report | Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Saudi Arabia has been ranked second globally among the G20 countries in the Digital Competitiveness Report for the year 2021 issued by the European Center for Digital Competitiveness, which based its findings on data provided by the Global Competitiveness Index issued by the World Economic...
November 2022:
Saudi Arabia’s digital government advances ranked 3rd globally by the World Bank
Saudi Arabia’s digital government advances ranked 3rd globally by the World Bank
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s has been ranked the best in the region and third globally for its digital government transformation by the World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index for 2022. The Kingdom has excelled with very high performance in its digital government transformation, putting it in the group of...
www.arabnews.com
@The SC @hamza gareeb
KSA silently kicking *** without much bragging or notice.
) but this is our AI future.
