Saudi Arabia's AI momentum: what executives should act on now
OpenText has moved its MENA headquarters to Riyadh and opened in the King Abdullah Financial District - a clear signal that Saudi Arabia is a serious AI player. Executives from the company say the country's pace, capital, and unified national strategy now set a global standard.
"Saudi Arabia is leading it globally," said Harald Adams, senior vice president at OpenText. The decision to base regional operations in Riyadh reflects where the next wave of enterprise AI solutions is likely to be built and scaled.
Why Saudi Arabia is moving fast
- Execution speed: Government programs are moving from policy to delivery quickly.
- Aligned strategy: Data governance, infrastructure, and skills are being built as one system.
- Capital commitment: Large-scale investment is backing national goals, not pilots.
"We will see a lot of innovation coming out of the country that we can replicate across the region - and globally," Adams added. George Schembri, OpenText's regional GM, emphasized that trusted, secure, and governed information is the foundation for AI at national scale.
Infrastructure and policy are being built end-to-end
The Saudi Data and AI Authority (established in 2019) is driving the country's data and AI strategy, with execution across government and industry. One flagship effort, Humain (under the Public Investment Fund and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman), targets a full AI stack: data centers, cloud, models, and applications.
Targets are bold: 1.8 GW of data center capacity by 2030 and 100 GW of AI compute by 2026. In May 2025, Humain signed a $5 billion agreement with Amazon Web Services to accelerate infrastructure, services, and talent development.
For context on national direction and policy, see the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA). For a global view of AI progress metrics, review the Stanford AI Index.
A growing hub for global partnerships
OpenText's new regional headquarters in KAFD will serve customers and partners across the Middle East. The opening drew senior Canadian officials, highlighting international interest in the market and alignment on innovation and economic goals.
With major tech firms expanding in Riyadh, the city is becoming a hub where policy, capital, and enterprise demand meet. For multinationals, this means faster routes to pilots, procurement, and scaled deployments.
Workforce strategy is baked in
Starting in the 2025-26 academic year, AI becomes a core subject across all public school grades - reaching roughly 6.7 million students. The curriculum includes algorithmic thinking, data literacy, and AI ethics.
OpenText is investing locally: cloud services in-Kingdom, a larger Riyadh presence, and programs to prepare university students for the workplace. "We're putting a plan together to support Saudi nationals as they enter the workforce," Schembri said.
What this means for executives
- Place teams on the ground: Use Riyadh as a base for co-creation with ministries, regulators, and large enterprises.
- Go from PoCs to platforms: Align projects with national data standards and procurement pathways to shorten time-to-scale.
- Prioritize information governance: Build secure, governed data estates first; layer AI capabilities second.
- Bet on compute access: Plan workloads and partnerships around Saudi's growing data center and AI compute capacity.
- Invest in local talent: Blend senior global expertise with Saudi graduates; partner with programs that feed real hiring pipelines.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Saudi Arabia ranks 5th globally and 1st in the region for AI growth under the 2025 Global AI Index.
- The Kingdom is 3rd globally in advanced AI model development, behind the US and China (Stanford AI Index 2025).
- AI is projected to contribute $235.2 billion - 12.4% - to Saudi GDP by 2030 (PwC).
Signals to watch over the next 12-24 months
- New data center capacity coming online and commitments from hyperscalers and national programs.
- Government procurement frameworks that favor secure, governed AI use cases in priority sectors.
- University-to-industry pipelines that place graduates into AI engineering, data governance, and product roles.
- Private-public partnerships that extend Saudi-built AI solutions across the region and into global markets.
If you're building executive and team capability for these moves, explore role-based programs at Complete AI Training.
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