Databricks to invest up to $300 million in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the next five years
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Data intelligence pioneer announces investment in KSA and commitment to data engineering and data and AI upskilling programs at LEAP 2025
At LEAP 2025, Databricks, the data and AI company, announced its plans to invest up to $300 million USD in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the next five years. This investment will be used to enable its growing local customer base to combine data, analytics and AI on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform and will support the formation of strategic partnerships to upskill KSA citizens with the latest skills in data engineering and AI.
The data and AI company also announced a new training partnership with Tuwaiq Academy. Tuwaiq Academy will be the first Databricks authorized training partner in the Kingdom.
These announcements follow the official opening of Databicks’ new office in Riyadh in December 2024 and the welcoming of Mohammad Alzaubi as General Manager to lead operations locally.
Introducing the Data Intelligence Platform at LEAP 2025
At LEAP, Naveen Zutshi, Chief Information Officer at Databricks introduced Databricks’ pioneering Data Intelligence Platform, highlighted recent business growth and discussed key investments in KSA. The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform democratizes access to data and AI, making it easier for organizations to harness the power of their data for analytics, machine learning, and AI applications.
Built on an open source foundation, the platform enables organizations to drive innovation to increase revenue, lower costs, and reduce risk. Customers use the Data Intelligence Platform to find and treat diseases like cancer earlier, identify new ways to combat climate change, detect financial fraud, develop pharmaceuticals faster, reduce time to mental health intervention, decrease local financial inequality and much more.
“We have been thrilled to welcome Databricks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “said H.E. Haytham Alohali, Vice Minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. “Databricks’ commitment to KSA and along with its strategic training partnerships, will play a vital role in fostering a dynamic ecosystem of cloud providers and software companies to achieve a new level of tech excellence.”
“I was thrilled to discuss on stage why democratizing data and AI across an organization must be a top priority for the C-suite,” said Naveen Zutshi, Chief Information Officer at Databricks. “Our Data Intelligence Platform has the power to help enterprises and entrepreneurs across KSA to bring generative AI solutions to market much faster.
I’ve been impressed by the energy and momentum at LEAP and am excited to announce Databricks’ investment into KSA over the next 5 years and our contribution to the local digital economy.”
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Commitment to data + AI training and growing local partnerships
Databricks is committed to supporting KSA’s Vision 2030 framework and empowering citizens and enterprises with data and AI skills. At LEAP, the company announced a new training partnership with Tuwaiq Academy.
Tuwaiq Academy will be the first Databricks authorized training partner with dedicated facilities in KSA. Databricks and Tuwaiq Academy are also currently exploring options for how Databricks can support Tuwaiq Academy’s Gifted Technical Secondary School with Databricks content and a path to certification.
Facilitated by MCIT, The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) has recognized the Databricks ‘Data Engineer’ certifications and the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) will reimburse test-takers who pass these certifications. This fosters the development of national competencies and supports professional excellence in the field of data engineering.