IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2025

IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2025

Architecting an AI-Fueled Business

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Architecting an AI-Fueled Business

Overview

The last two years have seen unprecedented AI-driven innovation, boosted by the adoption of generative AI (GenAI) across entire organizations. C-suite executives and technology leaders across industries have been making significant investments in AI-led intelligence architecture and processes, with an increasing focus on advanced big data analytics, next-gen intelligent automation, intelligent applications, AIOps, AI-enabled security, and the convergence of AI and other technologies such as 5G connectivity, cloud, and IoT. Indeed, IDC’s EMEA Emerging Tech Survey revealed that 72% of EMEA organizations are already using AI, or planning to do so in the next two years, highlighting its substantial impact across the region. This all promises an exciting, yet unpredictable future.

Business and technology leaders are facing countless opportunities and challenges on multiple fronts as they try to build strategies aimed at leveraging the full potential of AI. In order to be fully prepared, they must be able to identify critical developments in real time. They must also establish long-term strategies to ensure the fastest, most cost-effective, and fully trusted AI implementations, including the deployment of GenAI technologies at scale across business processes and the IT stack. Only then can their organizations successfully take on the challenges of an AI world and benefit from improved business agility and innovation while effectively mitigating the numerous associated risks.

The 2025 edition of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit will feature a stellar lineup of C-suite executives, influential analysts, industry thought leaders, international speakers, and market-leading solution providers. Together, they will discuss AI’s role as the leading technology enabler of business strategy and the endless potential it provides enterprises across the region. This premier gathering of ICT experts will examine the industry’s hottest topics, trends, and challenges, providing essential guidance on adapting to an unpredictable business landscape, implementing new business models, and scaling massively in the AI-powered digital economy.

Expert Perspectives

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IDC Middle East Advisory Council 2025

H.E. Eng. Anas Al-Reemi

H.E. Eng. Anas Al-Reemi

Vice Governor, Technologies & Solutions, Digital Government Authority

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H.E. Mubaraka M. Ali Ibrahim

H.E. Mubaraka M. Ali Ibrahim

Chief AI Officer

Emirates Health Services Establishment (UAE)

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Yazeed Abdulallah Alotibi

Yazeed Abdulallah Alotibi

Assistant Deputy Minister

Planning and Digital Transformation, Ministry of Health (KSA)

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Ahmad M. Al Mulla

Ahmad M. Al Mulla

Chief Technology Officer

Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (UAE)

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Bandar Alshahrani

Bandar Alshahrani

Executive Director, Technology, Rua Almadinah (PIF Company)

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Eng. Huda Ahmed Mohsen

Eng. Huda Ahmed Mohsen

Chief of IT

Ministry of Information Affairs (Bahrain)

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Essa Haidar

Essa Haidar

Chief Technology Officer

Ooredoo (Kuwait)

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Jayesh Maganlal

Jayesh Maganlal

Group Chief Information & Digital Officer

ROSHN Real Estate (KSA)

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Khalid Muhsen Al Mutairi

Khalid Muhsen Al Mutairi

CIO, Maaden (KSA)

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Manoj Bhojwani

Manoj Bhojwani

Global CIO

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (UAE)

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Mamoun Al Homssey

Mamoun Al Homssey

Chief Technology Officer

Ajman Bank (UAE)

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Mohammad Alharbi

Mohammad Alharbi

Assistant Deputy Minister for Digital & Innovation, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (KSA)

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Mohannad AlSalmi

Mohannad AlSalmi

CIO

Flyadeal

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Brig. Mohammed Al-Suwaidi

Brig. Mohammed Al-Suwaidi

CIO, Ministry of Interior – MOI (Qatar)

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Mounir Abdelmoujoud

Mounir Abdelmoujoud

Group Chief Information Officer & ED Group Technology

Aldar (UAE)

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Rasha M. Abu AlSaud

Rasha M. Abu AlSaud

Chief Technology Officer, Leading Bank in Saudi Arabia

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Saket Saith

Saket Saith

Group Chief Technology & Data Officer

RAKBANK (UAE)

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Srinivasan Sampath

Srinivasan Sampath

Group Chief Information Officer, First Abu Dhabi Bank (UAE)

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Saud Al Dhawyani

Saud Al Dhawyani

Group Chief Platform Officer, Emirates NBD (UAE)

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Sean Langton

Sean Langton

Group Chief Information Officer, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (UAE)

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Sundah Alsehali

Sundah Alsehali

Chief Information Officer, Public Sector (KSA)

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Yousef A. Alsuhaibani

Yousef A. Alsuhaibani

Chief Information Officer

Mobily (KSA)

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H.E. Dr. Saeed Aldhaheri

Join the esteemed Futurist, AI Ethicist, Author & Thought Leader LIVE as he takes you on a visionary journey into the future of technology and society.

Adrian Hayes

Join the renowned Adventurer, Author, Speaker, Consultant & Coach LIVE as he takes you on an extraordinary journey

What people say

Global influencers shared powerful stories of how they confronted challenges — and created opportunities from them

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Head – Digital Transformation, KEC International, an RPG Company

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Head – Digital Transformation, KEC International, an RPG Company

Event Gallery

Our Partners

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Venue

Global influencers shared powerful stories of how they confronted challenges — and created opportunities from them

Grand Hyatt Dubai

Oud Metha Road, Dubai Healthcare City Riyadh Street – Near Sheikh Rashid Rd – Dubai

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Knowledge Hub

Analyst Spotlight The AI Everywhere Era in the Public Sector

AI and GenAI are having an increasingly pervasive impact on government — across missions, use cases, processes, and systems — in the Middle East and beyond. The disruptive impact of these technologies, compounded by geopolitical volatility, technical debt, digital sovereignty concerns, elevated citizen expectations, and regulatory changes, will require government leaders to approach innovation holistically. The acquisition and implementation of new technologies will not be enough. Realizing the benefits of AI, cloud, and industry platforms will require revisiting governance, risk management, culture, and the building of competencies to accelerate innovation.

Massimiliano Claps
IDC
Research Director
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Analyst Spotlight Enabling AI Outcomes with Cybersecurity

GenAI was coming. Predictive AI was coming.  No . . . wait, it was already here. Anyway, we sit here today focused on the art and the genuineness of the possible.

As we consider and dream of the possible, we sometimes forget the reality of the now. Between the hype around GenAI and the COVID-19 pandemic before that, we sometimes fail to acknowledge that cybersecurity has grown up. Once the dominion of hoodie-wearing basement dwellers, the topic has elevated to the C-suite and beyond. Attacks from the cyberthreat landscape do not just present a technical risk — the ramifications create a risk to the organization itself. In essence, cyber risk equals business risk.

Frank Dickson
IDC
Group Vice President, Security & Trust
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Partner Spotlight Rebuilding Businesses for the Future: AI, Computer Vision, Robotics, and Digital Twins

In a rapidly changing technological landscape, companies face a pivotal decision: adapt to the transformative capabilities of artificial intelligence and automation or risk falling behind. A recent study by IDC reveals that the global artificial intelligence market stands at nearly $235 billion, with projections indicating a rise to over $631 billion by 2028, with significant investments in sectors such as software, banking, and retail. These sectors are increasingly leveraging AI to enhance operational efficiency and personalize customer interactions (Massey, K., 2024). With the rise of generative AI, more organizations are implementing these advanced tools, highlighting their integral role across industries.

Georges Bou-Issa
Inmind.ai
Business Development Associate
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CXO Spotlight Changing Investment Management Landscape With AI

AI in the investment sector is a key enabler for transforming financial landscapes or M&A- and IM-focused organizations. Leveraging AI will revolutionize the investment sector and bring huge transformative changes that enhance decision-making, improve efficiency, and drive innovation.

Advanced data analytics are integral tools for investors, financial analysts, and portfolio managers since they lead to quick time to value for the following segments of business:

Waqas Butt
Alpha Dhabi Holding
Group Head of ICT & AI
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CXO Spotlight AI in Conglomerates: Unifying Innovation Across Multiple Verticals

Conglomerates, especially family-owned businesses, manage a complex array of industries, including real estate, manufacturing, construction, automotive, food, retail, logistics, and FMCG, to name just a few. Each industry comes with its own set of challenges, expectations, and leadership goals. At Al Ghurair Group, we have found that AI not only serves as a critical enabler of innovation but also acts as a unifying force to address the diverse needs across these verticals.

Mario Foster
Al Ghurair Group
Group Chief Information Officer
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CXO Spotlight Transformative Power: How AI is Reshaping Industries and Redefining Problem Solving

Throughout my career I have seen some emerging technologies not entirely deliver on their expected promise, or their progress is hindered by regulatory and other constraints. Other technologies, mooted to transform our world, eventually find their niche, as in the case of blockchain and fintech, and others truly do become ubiquitous and land in the plateau of productivity — cloud computing being one.

Damian O’Gara
Kent
CIO
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Partner Spotlight Accelerate Your Customer Portal Project with Low Code

Customer portals can be a vital tool for businesses looking to improve customer experience and satisfaction rates. They provide a central location for customers to access information, manage accounts, and interact with your company. Without the right technology, however, building a customer portal can be a complex and time-consuming process.

Alaa Antar
Liferay
Regional Sales Manager
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Partner Spotlight Preparing for New Cyber-Resilience Challenges in 2025

In 2025, we need to be prepared for increasing sophistication of existing challenges. Phishing is a clear example; the 2024 UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey identifies it as the most predominant attack vector, affecting 84% of those breached. While phishing itself is not new, cyberattacks like this have only grown in complexity as attackers exploit “mega trends” in technology that include artificial intelligence and cloud computing, among other factors.

Ravi Baldev Singh
Commvault
Senior Director, Sales Engineering, Emerging Markets (CEE, CIS & META)
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Partner Spotlight Driving Cyber and Risk Focus in IoT/OT

As industrial and critical infrastructure organizations adopt AI to power already automated processes, the vulnerability of AI systems themselves is an emerging concern. Devious tactics such as data poisoning, large language model prompt injection, or ML model evasion pose a formidable challenge as threats.

Bachir Moussa
Nozomi Networks
Regional Vice President
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Partner Spotlight Evolution of the SIEM for the AI Era: AI-Assisted SIEM 4.0

With the rapid advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the world is undergoing yet another seismic transformation. Every industry is racing to integrate AI to gain a competitive edge. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, AI is projected to displace 85 million jobs by 2025 while simultaneously creating 97 million new roles, signaling a shift in the division of labor between humans, machines, and algorithms.

Sheik Abideen
Securonix
Regional Sales Director
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Partner Spotlight Rethinking ERP Reimplementation in the Age of AI

You want to innovate with AI, but your ERP vendor mandates a cloud reimplementation, leaving your customizations and data behind? Instead, choose a better way to maximize potential, gain flexibility, and reduce risk; here’s how.

Whether viewed through a lens of doom and gloom or hype and hope, the reality is that AI is on the leading edge of revenue generation, competitive advantage, and corporate growth.

Eric Helmer
Rimini Street
Senior Vice President & Global Chief Technology Officer
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Partner Spotlight Five Enterprise Backup and Recovery Solutions: Best Practices

As data becomes increasingly central to business operations, having the right enterprise backup and recovery solutions is more important now than ever. With data volumes on the rise, cyberthreats becoming more sophisticated, and IT environments growing more complex, it’s crucial for businesses to adopt effective strategies to safeguard their data and ensure quick recovery from any disruption. Here are five best practices to help you build a stronger, more resilient data protection framework for 2025.

Ankit Rajpal
Veeam Software
Sr. Territory Manager (South Gulf)
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Partner Spotlight Spotlight on Tech Innovation: The Impact of Serverless Architecture on Retail

The retail industry is undergoing a significant transformation, with serverless architecture emerging as a key enabler for businesses looking to adapt and thrive in the digital age. As online channels increasingly surpass traditional brick-and-mortar stores in importance, retailers face the challenge of delivering differentiated and seamless omnichannel experiences to stay competitive.

Emre Öget
Retter
Partner & Chief Operating Officer
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Partner Spotlight Three Key Areas of Focus for OT Cybersecurity in 2025 and Beyond

OT cybersecurity maturity continues to become more and more important every year. With unprecedented attacks targeting critical infrastructure, here are three critical areas of focus for strengthening OT security in 2025 and beyond.

Sertan Selcuk
OPSWAT
VP of Sales – METAP & CIS
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Partner Spotlight AI-Powered ITOps for Sustainable Business Growth

The pressures on modern digital businesses are relentless. The rapid proliferation of new applications and services is driving an unprecedented surge in the volume, variety, and velocity of data. This flood of information generates a cascade of alerts, overwhelming IT teams and making it nearly impossible to manually analyze and correlate data while meeting operational expectations. As businesses scale, this challenge intensifies, demanding a more efficient, intelligent approach to IT operations.

Charbel Khneisser
Riverbed Technology
SVP, Global Solutions Engineering
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Partner Spotlight Managing Complexity in Today’s Cybersecurity Ecosystem — Continuous Oversight

In the face of ever-increasing attack trends, organizations are deploying a diverse range of security solutions across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. These tools are essential for safeguarding assets, but their sheer volume and complexity introduce new challenges. Whether managed by internal teams or through outsourced operational services, ensuring that these security products are correctly implemented and consistently maintained is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process.

Pelin Pehlivan
Natica Global
Executive Partner
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Partner Spotlight Shaping the Future of Business with Quality Engineering

Quality engineering has become the backbone of modern operations in today’s fast-paced digital business world, where competition is relentless, and expectations are sky high. To illustrate its impact, imagine trying to run a marathon with a backpack full of bricks. That’s your company without DevOps. Now, picture running that same marathon with a dedicated support team solving problems as they arise. That’s the power of DevOps and quality engineering!

Alberto Ferreira
Noesis
Managing Director
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Partner Spotlight Navigating AI's Transformative Landscape

As AI continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, 2025 promises to be a pivotal year for redefining the roles of data, insights, and automation in business. The rapid adoption of AI introduces a blend of promise and peril, compelling organizations to adapt quickly to stay competitive.

At Qlik, we have identified three overarching themes that will shape the year ahead: authenticity, applied value, and autonomous agents.

Tejas Mehta
Qlik
Senior Vice President and General Manager, MEA
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Partner Spotlight Managing AI Adoption: Internal Readiness and Change Management in the Age of AI

As the MENA region advances in innovation, we are entering the “Intelligent Era,” defined by the widespread use of cutting-edge technologies like AI, machine learning, and data analytics. In this era, organizational regeneration is crucial for success. This transformation goes beyond technology adoption; it is about reshaping businesses to be more agile, resilient, and human-centric in a constantly evolving landscape. According to IDC’s Digital Executive Sentiment Survey, 2024, 78% of executives believe their organizations require a complete overhaul or new investments in AI and other areas such as cloud (73%) and integration tools (61%).

Khalid Murshed
e& enterprise
CEO
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Partner Spotlight 2025 AI Predictions: The Future of Application Development

AI continues to transform industries and reshape how organizations operate. As we move into 2025, its impact on application development is more profound than ever. Organizations across the region are looking to AI-powered solutions to enhance efficiency, boost productivity, and deliver business value. As AI becomes more integrated into enterprise strategies, IT leaders must prepare for the shifts ahead. Here are five key AI predictions that will shape the future of application development:

Youhanna Sidrak
OutSystems
Regional Sales Director (MEA)
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Partner Spotlight Are you data and cloud ready for Generative AI?

As businesses increasingly recognize the transformative potential of generative AI (GenAI), preparing for its implementation becomes a strategic imperative. While aspirations for GenAI are high, success depends on careful planning that integrates robust cloud infrastructure and comprehensive data readiness.

GenAI relies on high-quality, curated and proprietary data that is continuously refreshed. This requires organizations to prioritize thoughtful data operations, intelligent data management and the deployment of adaptive data platforms.

Nicholas Ismail
HCLTech
Global Head of Brand Journalism
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Partner Spotlight AI Beyond Borders: Unlocking Opportunities in Emerging Economies

The year 2024 marked a pivotal point in AI’s transformative potential. With generative AI and large language models (LLMs) becoming more accessible,  industries and economies underwent significant transformation. A recent report by IDC highlights that by 2030, every dollar invested in AI solutions will generate $4.60 in global economic output. However, as we enter 2025,  the focus must shift to ensuring AI drives inclusive economic growth rather than exacerbating global disparities.

Ashish Koshy
Inception
Chief Operating Officer
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Partner Spotlight Fortifying Defenses Against AI-Powered Cyberthreats

In 2024, a deepfake scam cost a Hong Kong-based company $25 million when cybercriminals used AI-generated voices to impersonate executives in a fraudulent transfer request. This incident is just one example of the powerful ways that AI is transforming the cyberthreat landscape. While AI enhances cybersecurity defenses by automating threat detection and response, it also gives attackers unprecedented capabilities to launch more sophisticated and adaptive cyberattacks.

Bahi Hour
Xage Security
Sr. Director of Solution Engineers
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Partner Spotlight How to Bridge the Gap Between Generative AI Ambitions and Readiness

Generative AI (GenAI) is a topic of interest everywhere today — from homes and educational institutions to offices and executive boardrooms. GenAI, of course, refers to algorithms that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos based on the data they have been trained on.

Jim Freeman
Kyndryl ANZ
CTO
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Partner Spotlight Agentic Experiences: A New Era of AI-Driven Workflows

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence is pushing the boundaries of digital transformation, and one of the most significant shifts today is the rise of agentic AI. Unlike traditional AI models, which act as passive responders, agentic AI represents a new paradigm where AI agents operate autonomously, make decisions, and execute complex workflows.

Sunil Karkera
BORN (a part of Tech Mahindra)
Chief Executive Officer
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Partner Spotlight Cloud Security Trends: Preparing for the Future Threat Landscape

The shift to cloud computing has brought unprecedented opportunities for businesses while presenting significant security challenges. Misconfigurations, insider threats, and cross-domain attacks dominate cloud security discussions as attackers find increasingly sophisticated ways to exploit vulnerabilities.

Aaron Hambleton
SecurityHQ
Director (MEA)
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CXO Spotlight AI in Government: How the UAE’s Competitive Edge Fueled Global Leadership

The UAE has surged ahead in AI-driven governance by blending strategic vision with persuasive competition among its public institutions. Pioneering moves — like appointing the world’s first AI Minister (2017) and launching the UAE AI Strategy 2031 — set the stage, but the true catalyst has been fostering rivalry through initiatives such as the Mohammed Bin Rashid Government Excellence Award (MBRGEA). This award incentivizes entities to compete in innovation, efficiency, and digital transformation, turning AI adoption into a race for excellence.

Lt. Col. Saeed Al Shebli
Ministry of Interior (UAE)
Deputy Director of Digital Security Department
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Partner Spotlight Embracing an AI-First Mindset for Sustainable Growth

Within the last few decades, the world has undoubtedly realized the huge benefits of embracing the mindset of digital first, automation first, mobile first, cloud first, and so on — both within business and general life. Today, the world is at another inflection point, with business needing to embrace an AI-first mindset to enable sustainable growth. And, as always, what applies in business will ultimately also apply in general life.

Alok Kumar
Convene
President (Middle East, Africa, and South Asia)
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Partner Spotlight AI Will Define the Next Era of Computing

AI will define the next era of computing and is an important part of the digital and economic growth strategies of nations across the Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa (META). At the recent IDC Directions META 2025 event in Dubai, IDC revealed that it expects annual AI spending in the region to reach $14.6 billion by 2028.

Zaid F. Ghattas
AMD
Commercial Lead
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Partner Spotlight Building Networks for AI Workloads in the Middle East: A Strategic Imperative

As artificial intelligence is at the forefront of innovation worldwide, organizations in the Middle East are rapidly adopting AI-driven solutions to enhance efficiency, security, and precise decision-making. However, AI workloads require robust, high-performance networking infrastructure to support their scale and complexity. Enterprises across oil and gas, banking, and the public sector must ensure their networks are AI ready to harness the full potential of AI-driven innovation.

Irfan Khan
LTIMindtree Middle East
Vice President, Cloud & Infrastructure Services
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Partner Spotlight AI Infrastructure: Enabling the Next Wave of Industry Innovation

The global race for AI dominance isn’t just about computational models — it’s about building the foundational infrastructure that enables nations and enterprises to harness AI’s true potential. As organizations witness the unprecedented pace of AI evolution, the critical challenge lies in creating robust, scalable infrastructures that can support AI transformation while respecting national sovereignty.

Talal Al Kaissi
Core42
EVP – Chief Government Affairs & Partnerships Officer
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Stay tuned for exciting news!

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