Comprehensive coverage and updates on Technology Localisation across the MENA tech ecosystem.
The Crown Prince launched Ceer’s first cars on 21 September 2026. The Exobot sedan and SUV open a seven-model plan from the KAEC plant. Prices were not announced. Series production is now talked about for early 2027, not the original 2025 date.
FlyNow has moved its global headquarters to Riyadh and is localising eCopter manufacturing, engineering and IP in Saudi Arabia, with cargo production targeted for 2027 and public flights expected around Riyadh Expo 2030.
A $150m commitment to manufacture data-centre components in the Kingdom is small next to the halls being built. It addresses a different constraint from the one the megawatt figures describe.
Across LEAP 2026 the Kingdom took positions at every layer beneath the applications: megawatts, silicon supply, ODM manufacturing, an operating system, devices and model weights.
The alfanar line in Riyadh moved to ProLiant Gen12 in the week before LEAP — the practical test of whether local manufacturing means current product or last year's stock.
SABIC and Lenovo signed a memorandum on industrial development and knowledge transfer on 1 September — a day after Lenovo unveiled its first Saudi-manufactured laptop, and aimed at a very different customer.
Saudi communications minister Abdullah Alswaha told the LEAP 2026 opening that employment across the kingdom's technology ecosystem has risen from 150,000 to 410,000, and that Saudi Arabia has exported more than 3,000 locally manufactured servers.