• LEAP 2025 announced USD 14.9B in investments out of which USD 10.9B are qualitative investments allocated to infrastructure, AI, and emerging companies.
•  These investments aim to empower digital skills development, foster the growth of tech startups, and enhance innovation in Saudi Arabia.
• Notably, Groq and Aramco Digital announced the opening of a new AI inferencing center backed by a USD 1.5 million investment. 

On the first day of LEAP 2025, investments and projects valued at over USD 14.9 billion were announced in the artificial intelligence sector. 

The organization of LEAP 2025 is led by the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MICT). Alongside, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones (SAFCSP) ,Tahaluf Company and supported by the Events Investment Fund.

Out of the USD 14.9 billion in investments announced, there are qualitative investments of more than USD 10.9 billion allocated to infrastructure, AI, and initiatives supporting emerging companies. Furthermore, these investments aim to empower digital skills development, foster the growth of tech startups, and enhance innovation in Saudi Arabia.

Groq and Aramco Digital 

At LEAP 2025, Groq, an AI Inference provider, and Aramco Digital announced an investment of USD 1.5 billion . This investment backs the opening of Groq’s new AI inferencing center in partnership with Aramco Digital with the financial backing of Aramco.

Furthermore, the hub aims to reduce latency for users of GroqCloud in Saudi Arabia and the region. Additionally, Groq aims to build high-performance AI infrastructure to serve over 4 billion people across Saudi and the Middle East.

Earlier in LEAP 2024, Groq and Aramco Digital announced their partnership with the aim of building this AI compute centre. 

HP AI Investments

Also at LEAP25, HP Inc, announced the launch of its new AI and R&D Centre of Excellence in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The new centre aims to attract AI talent and provide training programmes to upskill the local workforce. 

The global president and CEO of HP Enrique Lores stated that the new R&D centre will focus on developing AI-driven solutions. Moreover, this centre aims to enhance business efficiency, data analytics , robot process automation and AI decision-making capabilities.  Furthermore, this investment aims to complement HP’s new manufacturing facility in Riyadh. 

Investments

LEAP 2025 witnessed a number of investment deals and infrastructure partnerships by domestic and international players. All with the aim of contributing to a sustainable digital future and aiding in establishing Saudi as a hub for innovation and technology.

Alat and Lenovo announced that they are building an advanced AI and robotics-based manufacturing and technology center in Saudi Arabia. This is backed by an investment of USD 2 billion. Furthermore, Lenovo plans to establish a regional headquarter in Riyadh. Additionally, Google also revealed plans for an AI infrastructure investment to aid in establishing a global AI hub in Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, Alibaba Cloud launched an AI Enablement Program in collaboration with Tuwaiq Academy and STC in order to train local talent in advanced technologies SambaNova also committed a USD 140 million investment to develop advanced AI infrastructure and launch a large language model as a service. 

KKR, global equity firm, and Gulf Data Hub also announced an investment in Saudi Arabia’s data center development with a total capacity of up to 300 megawatts to enhance cloud computing and AI capabilities. In addition, Tencent Cloud pledged a USD 150 million investment to establish its first cloud region with integrated AI capability in the Middle East, starting with Saudi. 

Meanwhile, Databricks announced that it was going to invest USD 300 million in  Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions in order to support app developers and foster data engineering and AI expertise. 

Salesforce invests USD 500 million to build the Hyperforce platform to serve its clients in the region.

“The massive volume of new investments announced on day one builds on the progress made at LEAP and across the Kingdom in previous years, reaffirming Saudi Arabia’s undisputed status as the primary digital accelerator in the Middle East and North Africa.”

Michael Champion, CEO of Tahaluf