Emerging AI Event at LEAP2024

Digital Value Creation

In this episode, we dive into the remarkable experiences and groundbreaking announcements from LEAP 2024 held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With an overwhelming turnout of over 215,000 attendees and a staggering $13.4 billion in investments, the event showcased Saudi Arabia's ambitious drive to become a global digital leader. Underpinning this transformation is the Vision 2030 initiative, aimed at diversifying the economy beyond oil through significant investments in technology sectors, including AI, which is expected to contribute 15% to the GDP. Highlights include the government's substantial support in attracting tech giants like AWS, Cisco, Dell, IBM, and ServiceNow, who announced major projects like regional cloud services, data centers, and local manufacturing. The event also spotlighted local innovation, with significant investments in Saudi startups and the development of advanced technologies like Aramco's METABRAIN LLM. LEAP 2024 not only reflects Saudi Arabia's technological ambitions but also poses questions about the impact of such government-led initiatives in reshaping the global tech landscape.