IBM has made significant strides in Saudi Arabia by employing a majority of Saudi nationals at its artificial intelligence lab, highlighting the Kingdom’s focus on nurturing local talent. This was revealed at the “Bringing Tech to Life” panel during the LEAP 2025 event in Riyadh.
IBM’s Chairman and CEO, Arvind Krishna, stated that over 70 percent of the workforce in their AI and R&D lab in Saudi Arabia consists of Saudi nationals. This initiative aligns with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which includes a substantial investment in the technology sector.
The $200 million Software Lab, launched at LEAP 2024, is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader strategy to drive digital innovation and job creation. This effort supports the country’s pledge to invest $100 billion in the tech industry, aiming to transform it into a global technology hub.
His Excellency Abdullah Al-Swaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, emphasized the need for industry leaders to understand market transitions. He highlighted the importance of educating leaders, youth, and women about market trends and future directions.
Krishna noted the long-standing use of AI, predicting a major breakthrough in quantum computing within two to three years. He also forecasted a dramatic reduction in AI training costs, citing DeepSeek’s R1 model as evidence of this trend.
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, launched its R1 model at a fraction of traditional costs. Released under an open-source license, it quickly gained popularity, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT and causing a stir in the stock market.
Although large general-purpose AI models currently dominate, Krishna predicts that domain-specific models will become more prevalent, making up over half of all deployed models in the next three to four years.
LEAP 2025 serves as a platform for expanding business networking and investment opportunities, pivotal to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy.
