Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh that its first AWS Cloud Infrastructure Region in Saudi Arabia is on track to launch in December 2026.
Together with HUMAIN, a Public Investment Fund–owned company, AWS will also make up to 50 megawatts (MW) of capacity available in Saudi Arabia’s first AI Zone by 2028 as part of an expanded strategic collaboration.
AWS is HUMAIN’s preferred AI partner, driving AI innovation across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and globally. The AI Zone capacity will include AWS’s Trainium chips and the latest NVIDIA AI infrastructure for customers to run AI training and inference workloads.
Increased cloud and AI capacity is key to growing the Kingdom’s AI leadership and supporting public and private sector organizations to build a future-ready economy in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
HUMAIN’s ALLAM Arabic large language model will soon be available through Amazon Bedrock, so customers can securely access advanced Arabic-language AI capabilities through a fully managed generative AI platform.
The expanded collaboration also includes the availability of HUMAIN Fabric, HUMAIN’s AI-native data infrastructure and a component of the HUMAIN ONE platform, via AWS Marketplace.
With the new region, developers, startups, and enterprises will have greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in Saudi Arabia.
All AWS regions are sovereign-by-design, reflecting AWS’s commitment to offering customers advanced sovereignty controls and features available in the cloud.
“Saudi Arabia is home to some of the most ambitious and inventive builders, from startups and enterprises reimagining industries to public sector organizations deploying AI at scale, and the new AWS region in the country will help them to continue to innovate,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman.
“The launch of our new region and our partnership with HUMAIN will deliver the full-stack cloud and AI infrastructure to help power new industries, create jobs, and accelerate the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.”
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said Saudi Arabia is building the computing power needed for the Intelligence Age and strengthening its position as a global computing partner. He said, “The launch of AWS’s new region and its expanded partnership with HUMAIN will help accelerate AI innovation, enable new industries, and advance the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.”
The region, first announced in March 2024, represents more than $5.3 billion (SAR19.88 billion) in planned cloud infrastructure investment. This launch will expand the AWS Global Infrastructure to 40 regions worldwide.
According to an IDC report commissioned by AWS, AI will contribute an estimated $130 billion to Saudi Arabia’s economy by 2030. The new region will help accelerate this potential by empowering organizations to innovate faster and operate more efficiently, while providing access to advanced AI services like Amazon Bedrock.
Saudi organizations including Abdul Latif Jameel, Almosafer, stc group, Red Bull MOBILE, and AWS Partners like ZainTECH, Accenture, and Tamkeen Technologies will be running AI workloads on AWS.
stc group has announced a strategic collaboration with AWS to accelerate the adoption of cloud and AI services in Saudi Arabia, while ZainTECH has signed a multiyear agreement to help organizations adopt AWS solutions and strengthen their security and compliance readiness.
Beyond infrastructure, AWS is making an investment in Saudi Arabia’s workforce development.
The Amazon Academy, launched with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), provides free training in cloud computing, AI, logistics, and retail, aiming to train over 100,000 Saudi citizens for digital careers. AWS has also partnered with 11 higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia, and is training up to 10,000 women through the AWS Saudi Arabia Women's Skills Initiative at no charge.
Across the Middle East, North Africa, and the Republic of Türkiye, AWS commits to reaching two million people with AI and cloud training by 2030 and has already served more than 680,000 individuals to date.
Additionally, AWS is establishing two innovation centers in Saudi Arabia to provide technical mentorship and training to startups and entrepreneurs.
 

Microsoft announced on first day of LEAP 2026 that its new cloud datacenter region in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia East, will be available to customers in November.
 The region will enable government entities and private-sector organizations to run cloud workloads and AI applications locally, strengthening their capacity for innovation and growth in the smart era.
 Located in Eastern Region, the new datacenter region comprises three availability zones for the Microsoft Azure platform. It will allow customers to host data locally in Saudi Arabia, while providing advanced levels of security, resilience, and business continuity, as well as low-latency access to cloud and AI services.
 The launch marks a new phase in Microsoft’s long-term investment in Saudi Arabia and provides a local digital foundation to support organizations in moving from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment and operations. It will also enhance their readiness to develop innovative services and products aligned with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.
 The local cloud infrastructure is expected to create broader opportunities for Saudi organizations to host and operate more digital systems and applications within the Kingdom, while expanding the use of AI in sectors requiring high levels of data security, governance, resilience, and responsiveness.
 These investments collectively provide advanced local infrastructure, strengthen security and governance, develop national capabilities, and support solutions tailored to market needs. This will enable organizations to build and scale AI applications from within the Kingdom and support Saudi Vision 2030 goals of achieving economic diversification and innovation, and establishing the Kingdom as a global technology and AI hub.
 

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the National eLearning Center signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at LEAP 2026 to strengthen cooperation in education, training, and professional development and build national capabilities in response to the growing demand for digital skills.
The MoU includes developing flexible learning pathways using digital educational resources in partnership with local and international content providers and making them available through the National eLearning Platform, FutureX, to expand access to learning and professional development opportunities.