LEAP23 has announced a series of investments totaling $580 million to advance Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation in various fields.
The technology event powered by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Tahaluf, showcased a lineup of influential figures, cutting-edge technology, and innovative investment programmes aimed at driving the Kingdom’s digital advancement.
The new investments, follows the $9 billion from companies such as Microsoft, Oracle and Huawei, which were announced earlier this week.
Among the prominent announcements, Ignite, a program under the Digital Content Council, launched various initiatives worth $170 million in financing programs and private sector partnerships.
Technology consulting firm Wipro pledged $110 million towards expanding its cloud studio service, digital healthcare solutions and supporting local talent development. Unity, a global gaming platform, established its first regional academy and electronic games centre in partnership with MCIT.
IT firm Zoho also revealed plans to expand its presence in the Kingdom with new offices and a cloud area and committed $300 million over the next decade to support Saudi startups. DAMAC Group increased its investment in large data centres in the Kingdom.
Finally, Amazon has created its first regional academy, which aims to train over 30,000 individuals and offer over 35,000 professional certificates in the domains of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. This academy is a part of a nationwide collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) that includes the Future Skills initiative, the Saudi Digital Academy, the Human Capacity Development Program, and the Tuwaiq Academy.
