RIYADH – Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swah said the value of the Saudi digital economy has grown to nearly $140 billion, accounting for more than 50 percent of the growth of the Middle East and North Africa’s digital economy.
“Saudi Arabia’s performance in the digital era reflects its ability to transform vision into tangible results,” he said on Wednesday while attending a panel discussion held as part of the Microsoft AI Tour in Riyadh 2026.
Al-Swah said Saudi Arabia, with the support and direction of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, is moving rapidly to strengthen its position as a global hub in the age of artificial intelligence by investing in computing and capital and enabling customers to expand from Saudi Arabia to global markets.
The minister said data center capacity has increased from less than 80 megawatts to more than 440 megawatts, and eight high-tech startups have reached unicorn status so far. He said the focus on developing national capabilities was a strategic turning point as the number of technology professionals increased from 150,000 to more than 406,000, making the Kingdom one of the region’s largest technology talent hubs and strengthening its readiness to lead in the intelligent era.
Alswaha said that leading the artificial intelligence (AI) race requires three core elements: computing, capital and customers, and stressed that Saudi Arabia provides these enablers to help its partners expand globally. “Saudi Arabia has worked to address three major global gaps: the computing gap by ensuring reliable energy sources to support data centres, the algorithm gap by developing advanced Arabic language models to serve more than 400 million Arabic speakers, and the data gap by strengthening training and deployment integration to ensure accuracy and reliability in critical areas,” he said.
The Minister confirmed that the Kingdom is working with the world’s leading technology companies to develop an integrated ecosystem to drive the growth of the smart economy and strengthen its role as a global platform for innovation and expansion of AI solutions.
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