The Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology announces the manufacture of the first smart chips in the Kingdom by Saudi hands

Riyadh - The Saudi capital, Riyadh, witnessed today, Wednesday,; Launching the Launch event, which is the largest technical event in the Middle East and North Africa region, which will witness the actual launch of new initiatives, with the participation of 10 companies from the world's technology giants.

The Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Al-Sawaha, revealed that the first smart chips were manufactured in the Kingdom by Saudi hands, according to Al Arabiya.

In a speech during the launch events, Al-Sawaha said that the Kingdom will launch executive programs specialized in the digital economy, space and innovation.

He stressed that the event will witness the signing of global agreements with technology giants today, Wednesday, explaining that global agreements will be signed today with these major companies.

In his speech to a large gathering of specialists, the Minister of Communications reviewed a plan to achieve this ambition through partnership between the public and non-profit sectors, on the one hand, and the private sector, on the other. 

Announcing a package of initiatives

In the largest technical launch of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Kingdom announced today, Wednesday, Muharram 17, 1443 AH, corresponding to August 25, 2021 AD, a package of qualitative initiatives and technical programs with a total value of nearly 4 billion riyals, in cooperation with 10 of the most important technology giants in the world, in order to enhance digital capabilities, achieving a programmed target for every 100 Saudis by 2030, encouraging innovation and creativity, and achieving global leadership; This comes as a translation of the directives of His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz - may God protect him - in order to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom's vision to seize the opportunities of the digital economy.

These huge initiatives, which received great interaction during their announcement at the “Launch” event, which was organized in the capital, Riyadh, consolidate the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a regional technical center for the most important entrepreneurs, innovators and programmers from the region and the world, it also comes as a culmination of the distinguished partnership between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones.

During the launch event, a number of the world's leading technology companies announced; It is led by (Google, Amazon, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, Trend Micro, and Avense Security), their cooperation with the Kingdom in “launching their training programs” and centers specialized in raising the digital capabilities of young national cadres, and other centers for innovation in technical entrepreneurship.

The organizers of the Launch event revealed the three main initiatives (Twaiq, Hemma, Qimma), which aim, in their entirety, to raise the digital capabilities of young men and women in the fields of programming, enhance trust between technical companies and funding agencies, and encourage innovation and creativity through central gatherings and platforms.

"Twaiq Initiatives" will focus on achieving the primary goal set by the Saudi Federation for Cyber ​​Security, Programming and Drones since its establishment in 2017, which is one programmer out of every 100 Saudis by 2030, based on his main role in building, developing and empowering young national capabilities.

With regard to "Himma Initiatives", it will focus on the goal of achieving the Kingdom's global leadership in the technology industry, through the launch of the National Program for the Development of the Information Technology Sector with a budget of 2.5 billion riyals, and what it includes from many products, foremost of which is the "financial guarantee product" in partnership A strategy with the "Kafala" program for financing small and medium enterprises. This product guarantees the provision of guarantees to medium and small companies working in the technical field with a maximum limit of up to 90% of the financing value, amounting to 15 million riyals, to assist these companies in implementing their projects and covering expansion plans.

As for the Summit Initiatives, its main focus will be on encouraging innovation and creativity through centralized clusters and platforms that support the technical and digital aspects.

Among the important announcements of the launch event, the unveiling of the Saudi-Chinese eWTP Arabia Capital Fund, which seeks to support emerging technology companies in the Kingdom with a capital of one and a half billion riyals, in partnership between the Chinese eWTp backed by Alibaba and the Public Investment Fund and with the support of the Saudi Federation for cybersecurity, programming and drones, with the aim of contributing to supporting a solid economic system for digital business in the Kingdom.

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology backbone of the Alibaba Group, aims to cooperate with local partners in the region over the next five years in the academies, training and innovation centers in the Kingdom, to build and develop capabilities in technical fields, to support the vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2030.

The Saudi Federation for Cyber ​​Security, Programming and Drones and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology launched the two largest technical initiatives; They are represented by the "Twaiq Camp 1000" initiative, which ends with employment, and the "Future Skills" initiative, which will be held in the 13 regions of the Kingdom through 40 training camps with 4 tracks: cybersecurity, programming, artificial intelligence and data science, and electronic games industry.

During the Launch event, the Kingdom announced that it would organize and host the global “Leap” conference next year, which is the largest technical event in the world and the first of its kind in the region. It was also announced that it would host the RiseUp Summit in Riyadh, the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa for entrepreneurs and startups The details of the largest global conference @Hack in the field of cybersecurity were also announced within the activities of the Riyadh season, in partnership between the General Entertainment Authority and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, with Informatech and Black Hat to address cyber risks around the world, by hosting Offensive Security experts for information security training. , while hosting the largest challenge of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Among the announcements that the Launch event witnessed, the launch of the “Sdaya Academy” to contribute to building capabilities and enabling them in the field of artificial intelligence and data science, the launch of the “Khatr platform” for programming with more than 1,300 educational videos, and the “Coderhub” platform, the first Arab platform specialized in programming challenges with more than 400 challenges, and the launch of a special drone platform to serve drone users inside the Kingdom and the business sector, in addition to the launch of the DJI Academy, the first accredited training center for drones to serve trainees in the Kingdom and the Middle East, in partnership with the global DJI Academy and stc. In addition to announcing a partnership with OneMT, the leading company in the electronic games industry, which will open a studio for it in Riyadh, Trend Micro announcing the establishment of its regional headquarters in Riyadh, and the start of registration for the Apple Developer Academy, the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa dedicated in its first phase. For programmers and developers, at its headquarters at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh, the "Embark" media project was announced in cooperation with the MBC Group and "Eight" for publishing and distribution under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, with the aim of providing content interested in entrepreneurship in the Arab world.

stc Group expressed its happiness to participate in the largest technical launch in the region, as it is the partner and digital enabler for all the initiatives of the Saudi Federation for Cyber ​​Security, Programming and Drones. In pursuit of ambitious visions of technology localization and innovation support.