Underscoring Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a regional center for innovation and digital transformation, SAS, a global leader in data and artificial intelligence (AI), announced the opening of its new Middle East and North Africa regional headquarters in Riyadh.
The announcement came during the SAS Innovate On Tour event in the Saudi capital, marking not only an expansion of the company’s operations but also a deepening commitment to supporting the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, which places data and AI at the heart of the country’s economic transformation and sustainable innovation agenda.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr. James Goodnight, Chief Executive Officer of SAS, said the company brings over four decades of experience in analytics and AI, offering trusted capabilities that directly support Vision 2030’s ambitions across government, finance, healthcare, energy, and smart cities.
He noted that long-term impact for SAS is built on a sustained commitment to innovation. This includes a $1 billion investment in industry-specific AI solutions to ensure we remain at the forefront of technological progress and deliver advanced capabilities for years to come.
Regional Hub at the Heart of Transformation
SAS said its new regional headquarters in Riyadh reinforces its more than two-decade presence in the Kingdom and brings it closer to its network of partners and clients across the region.
“Saudi Arabia is rapidly emerging as a hub for innovation and digital transformation. By establishing our regional headquarters in Riyadh, we are positioning ourselves at the heart of this growth. Our investment underscores SAS’s belief in the Kingdom’s potential and our commitment to supporting Vision 2030,” said Alexander Tikhonov, Regional Director, Middle East Türkiye & Africa at SAS.
The new office will include leadership, customer engagement, consulting, and innovation divisions, serving as a collaborative center for key sectors such as banking, government, energy, utilities, and telecommunications.
“From Riyadh, SAS will partner with governments, enterprises, and academia across the Middle East to deliver cutting-edge AI and analytics solutions. This headquarters will also serve as a hub for knowledge sharing, skills development, and regional collaboration,” said Mohammed Kiki, SAS Country Manager for Saudi Arabia.
Empowering Vision 2030
Under Saudi Vision 2030, data, analytics, and AI are not viewed as supporting tools but as national pillars for building a sustainable knowledge-based economy.
Goodnight said SAS’s role in this landscape goes beyond technology, describing it as a strategic and developmental partnership with the Kingdom.
The company, he added, provides an integrated platform that supports secure data management, advanced analytics, model development and deployment, real-time decision-making, and AI governance — all key to achieving Vision 2030 objectives.
According to SAS, this comprehensive approach enables organizations to transform data into actionable insights that enhance decision-making and operational efficiency.
This vision is backed by a $1 billion global investment to accelerate the development of advanced analytics and AI solutions tailored to critical industries, including financial security, energy, healthcare, and public services.
Building Human Capital
SAS’s strategy in Saudi Arabia places strong emphasis on empowering national talent and building local capabilities in data and AI.
Goodnight said developing Saudi talent is one of the areas where the company can make the greatest impact. SAS collaborates with Saudi universities, government agencies, and private institutions to prepare young people for future careers through AI hackathons, academic training programs, and research grants.
Goodnight stressed that these initiatives aren’t side projects and are central to SAS’s mission of empowering the next generation of innovators who will drive the Kingdom’s knowledge economy.
Trust, Transparency, and Digital Sovereignty
As AI adoption accelerates globally, data governance and digital sovereignty have become critical, particularly in the public sector.
Goodnight emphasized that SAS technologies are designed to meet Saudi Arabia’s stringent regulatory and sovereignty requirements. The company’s solutions, he said, fully comply with national standards for data governance and sovereignty, providing organizations with clarity and confidence in building robust AI governance frameworks.
He added that SAS enables government entities to deploy transparent and interpretable AI systems under human oversight, ensuring that decisions align with national values and policies.
Goodnight affirmed that this approach reflects SAS’s commitment to advancing digital transformation in Saudi Arabia without compromising sovereignty or transparency.
This also aligns with the Kingdom’s push for a secure and responsible digital environment.
Cloud Readiness and Local Compliance
With the rapid shift toward cloud computing across Saudi Arabia’s public and private sectors, SAS’s cloud-native platform SAS Viya offers a flexible and secure framework for deploying AI models in compliance with national regulations.
Goodnight said the platform allows public-sector leaders to enhance performance and reduce costs by optimizing cloud resources while ensuring full adherence to data sovereignty requirements.
He added that SAS works closely with global and local partners to align its cloud infrastructure with Saudi law, offering flexible deployment options — including local servers and private cloud — to ensure sensitive data remains within the Kingdom’s borders.
Technological progress must go hand-in-hand with responsibility, Goodnight noted, adding that SAS focuses deeply on developing transparent, explainable AI that operates under human supervision.
This approach aligns with Saudi Arabia’s broader policy of promoting ethical AI and innovation governance, strengthening public trust in the Kingdom’s digital transformation and embedding transparency and accountability at the core of its technological future.
