Huawei Cloud announced on Monday the launch of the Huawei Cloud Riyadh Region to grow the company’s footprint in the Middle East and North Africa.
The announcement was made at the Huawei Cloud Summit Saudi Arabia 2023.
The event was sponsored by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in Saudi Arabia and organized by the company to promote digital transformation in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
The summit was attended by Eng. Haitham bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ohali, Vice Minister at the MCIT, Steven Yi, the company's regional president, and other officials from the ministry and company, as well as international and regional entrepreneurs in business and technology.
During the opening ceremony, Huawei announced the launch of the Huawei Cloud Riyadh Region, which will contribute to the emergence of a new era of digital-led economic growth and prosperity.
This launch is in line with Huawei Cloud’s plans to invest heavily in cloud infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
"Huawei is a proud partner in our country's technological progress having worked with the Ministry, service providers, enterprises, and universities in various collective efforts towards digital transformation,” said Al-Ohali.
The cloud data center in Riyadh, Huawei's 30th worldwide, will support government services for the Kingdom and allow for AI applications and language models in Arabic, a company official told a briefing.
"The implementation of Huawei cloud is not just about us, but is a bridge that will bring other Chinese companies to Saudi Arabia," said Steven Yi, the company's regional president.
The step would contribute to the development of the country's digital economy, he said, adding that Huawei opened its regional headquarters in the Saudi capital this year.
Under the them “Advance Intelligence for Saudi Arabia,” the summit highlighted Huawei Cloud's commitment to the Kingdom’s digital future.
The event provided an ideal platform for exchanging knowledge and building relationships and cooperation, encouraging national and international companies to share success stories, best practices, and insights into the digital transformation process.
Saudi Arabia has previously said it would not sign contracts with foreign companies that did not have regional headquarters in the Kingdom after this year.
Huawei ranked fifth in the global cloud services market in the first quarter, with a market share of 2.4%, although it was the second-largest vendor in mainland China, according to research consultancy Canalys.
In February Huawei said it would invest $400 million in the Saudi Arabia cloud region over the next five years.
