'Cloud First' policies give Saudi Arabia, UAE edge in AI race: Amazon exec
In March 2024, AWS announced plans to invest $5.3 billion in Saudi Arabia to launch a cloud infrastructure region in the kingdom by 2026.
Saudi Arabia's and the United Arab Emirates’ "cloud-first" policies are giving them a competitive edge in the global artificial intelligence race, according to Amazon Web Services’ Middle East head, Yasser Hassan.
Cloud-first strategies focus on scalable investments in cloud infrastructure, accelerating cloud adoption through enhanced AI use and digitizing public and private services, AWS’s managing director for MENA and Turkey explained.
Citing Saudi Arabia as a leading example, Hassan said the country is streamlining its infrastructure through cloud services at a faster pace than most nations.
“You can get most of the services from the government while you are sitting at your desk, and you don't need to move and go to a government entity, or you don't need to go to a bank," Hassan told Al-Monitor.
