LEAP 2026 concluded its fifth edition in Riyadh today after four days at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham, with announcements, investments and agreements approaching $15 billion spanning AI infrastructure, data centres, cloud computing, technology manufacturing and venture capital, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The event was organised by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, Tahaluf and the Events Investment Fund under the theme "Into New Worlds".
AI and infrastructure investment led the announcements through a set of partnerships launched by HUMAIN with major global technology companies covering AI data centres, cloud infrastructure, models, enterprise solutions and autonomous technologies. A Microsoft Azure cloud region will become available in the Kingdom in November 2026, supporting local data hosting and the growth of cloud services.
In data centres, Al Moammar Information Systems announced a $1.2 billion investment to expand its facilities and raise capacity to 192 megawatts, while NHC Innovation announced an $800 million investment to develop Khuzam Digital Valley, scalable to 65 megawatts by 2033.
Among the headline cloud commitments, Amazon Web Services announced the launch of its first cloud infrastructure region in the Kingdom in December 2026 as part of a planned investment exceeding $5.3 billion, alongside an expanded partnership with HUMAIN providing up to 50 megawatts within the Kingdom's first AI zone by 2028. The collaboration includes making the Arabic language model ALLaM available through Amazon Bedrock and HUMAIN Fabric available through AWS Marketplace.
On developer enablement, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Digital Cooperation Organization and AMD launched an open ecosystem to accelerate AI innovation, providing open software tools and training programmes for developers, startups and software engineers, including access to the AMD AI developer programme and the open AMD ROCm software ecosystem alongside the Digital Cooperation Organization's AI ethics and governance tools.
Snowflake announced a $300 million expansion in the Kingdom through 2030, including a regional headquarters, two additional cloud regions and training for 25,000 people, while HPE expanded its "Made in Saudi" initiative and launched an innovation centre with Intel. National technology manufacturing was on display with the first Lenovo laptop made in Riyadh through the company's partnership with Alat.
In the creative industries, Adobe announced a commitment exceeding $4 billion as part of an expanded partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and HUMAIN. It includes free access to Adobe Firefly Standard and Adobe Express Premium features for 12 months to more than 27 million eligible citizens and residents aged 13 and above by the end of 2026, alongside the development of a first image-generation model built with Adobe Firefly Foundry in partnership with HUMAIN, designed for Saudi culture and Arabic-language prompts.
Venture capital rounds and funds announced at the event totalled around $857 million, supporting the growth of technology companies and startups across AI, biotech, fintech and deep tech.
On capability building, the closing day saw a set of academies and initiatives launched with major global technology companies, including Gemini technologies for more than one million university students in Saudi Arabia, a ServiceNow academy targeting one million learners, the "Alef Applied Generative AI" initiative with Scale AI to qualify 100,000 people by 2030, an Intel digital readiness initiative training 100,000 people, and an innovation ecosystem with Snapchat targeting 20,000.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Abdullah Alswaha said this year's edition saw global investment and technology activity extending from infrastructure, cloud computing and data centres to advanced technologies and venture capital, alongside initiatives that invest in people and develop national capabilities. He added that across five editions LEAP has become a global platform bringing together innovators, investors and technology makers from more than 165 countries.
Faisal Alkhamisi, Chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones and Co-Chairman of Tahaluf, said at the closing ceremony that LEAP was founded as a global commercial platform bringing companies, investors, customers and technology makers together in one place, and that the sustainability of events rests on an investment model delivering economic and commercial impact. He noted that LEAP's success helped build a Saudi brand that expanded internationally with LEAP East in Hong Kong, which drew more than 25,000 visitors in its first edition.
Tahaluf CEO Michael Champion said the 2026 edition is the best since the event launched and that LEAP has become a leading model for the region's exhibitions and conferences industry. He said LEAP launched in 2022 as the largest first-time technology event globally and became the most attended technology event in the world by its second edition, with the five editions hosting close to 5,000 speakers and seeing deals and announcements approaching $60 billion. The 2026 edition gathered participants from more than 165 countries and hosted over 1,300 speakers and more than 1,500 investors managing assets exceeding $18.3 trillion.
At the close of proceedings, the event announced that the sixth edition of LEAP will be held from 12 to 15 April 2027.