Saudi Arabia has exported more than 3,000 locally manufactured servers to neighbouring countries as it seeks to develop from a technology importer into a producer and exporter, Communications and Information Technology Minister Abdullah Al-Swaha said.
The minister disclosed the figure before the opening of LEAP 2026, which begins in Riyadh on Monday.
The fifth edition of the technology exhibition will run until September 3 at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre in Malham, north of the capital.
The four-day event is being organised by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones and Tahaluf.
This year’s theme is “Into New Worlds”.
Al-Swaha presented details of the event and reviewed Saudi Arabia’s recent technology-sector performance during a press conference hosted by the Ministry of Media.
He described LEAP, which is supported by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, as the largest technology movement of the 21st century.
Saudi Arabia’s digital economy has expanded by more than 75 per cent since the introduction of Vision 2030, reaching SAR52.2 billion, according to figures presented by Al-Swaha.
Employment in the digital sector has increased to 410,000 jobs.
The minister said Saudi Arabia had ranked first globally in digital competitiveness, spectrum liberalisation and digital readiness during the past two years.
The National Technology Development Programme has provided support to more than 1,500 entrepreneurs and 5,000 companies.
The supported businesses include nine companies valued at more than $1 billion, commonly known as unicorns.
More than 80 technical schools are operating across Saudi Arabia, while about 30,000 people have received training in artificial intelligence.
Al-Swaha said gaps in telecommunications coverage had fallen from 50 per cent to 1 per cent.
Service disruptions had also been reduced to 5 per cent.
The ministry is preparing a quarterly report on consumer complaints for submission to the Crown Prince.
Large projects involving Amazon and Nvidia are due to be announced on Monday during LEAP 2026.
Microsoft is also scheduled to officially launch its Azure cloud service as part of the event.
Organisers expect more than 250,000 visitors to attend the exhibition.
The program will bring together more than 1,800 technology companies, 600 startups, 1,000 speakers and more than 1,900 international investors.
DeepFest, a program devoted to artificial intelligence, will be held alongside the main LEAP exhibition.
Dedicated conference tracks will cover financial technology, healthcare, smart cities, education, sport, space and gaming.
Other areas of the event include LEAP Connect, Sports Tech Hub, World Tech Zone and LEAP Studios.
Organisers said the exhibition is intended to attract foreign investment and generate new agreements supporting Saudi Arabia’s goal of becoming an international centre for technology and artificial intelligence.