RIYADH — Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha said that Saudi Arabia is heading towards exporting technology in the next phase as part of its future strategy to enhance the digital economy. Addressing the Saudi Budget Forum 2025 in Riyadh on Wednesday, the minister said that the next phase will witness intensive efforts in this direction, with the aim of opening new horizons for global markets. Regarding the next phase, Al-Swaha unveiled a plan to focus on industries and exports. "Saudi Arabia, as a cashless society, has witnessed significant growth as the percentage of cashless transactions exceeded 70 percent with the presence of more than 200 new Fintech companies. Major companies such as Saudi Telecom have shifted to digitalization by developing services such as "STC Pay" and "STC Bank," he said, adding, "we have the National Program for Technology Development that was approved by the Crown Prince, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, and that aims to invest SR2.6 billion and has so far generated SR13 billion in positive movement in venture capital investments." Al-Swaha highlighted the rapid pace of the digital transformation in the Kingdom. "The infrastructure supporting data has developed significantly, as the number of homes equipped with technology has increased from one million to four million in less than seven years. The National Program for Technology Development, which was approved in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, has been instrumental in attracting venture capital investments worth SR13 billion, with a focus on rapid and qualitative gains in the first phase," he said. The minister pointed out that the rise in the Kingdom's credit rating from "A" to "AA3" is an indicator of the strength of the Kingdom's monetary and financial policy, in addition to the success of integration and the effective redirection of investments. He highlighted the major developments in the technology market, which has become the third largest in the Public Investment Fund portfolio after the energy and real estate sectors. On the importance of artificial intelligence in achieving prosperity for the Kingdom, Al-Swaha stated that Saudi Arabia is considered as a striking force in the fields of energy and investment. He referred to major partnerships and investments with Google in the field of cloud computing, and stated that the capacity increased from 90 megawatts according to the targets of "Vision 2030" to 200 megawatts, with investments exceeding SR10 billion.
