The Saudi Arabia cloud computing market is expected to generate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.5% between 2021-2030, according to QuantAlign Research. The Kingdom’s sustained growth in the cloud computing market can be attributed to the increasing expenditure on information technology and growing demand for data digitalization across various industries.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is one of the first countries to gain significant momentum on the adoption of cloud computing. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has announced a five-year plan to double the sector's growth and increase its contribution to GDP by $13.3 billion.
The government’s National Transformation Program was launched with the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 in mind. As the world becomes driven by digital technologies, the Saudi government decided to use the NTP to digitally empower all sectors of the economy, including banking, finance, government, manufacturing, and healthcare. Moreover, e-government services are set in motion in order to cut expenses, expand facilities, save time, and improve overall effectiveness and performance in the public sector.
In addition, the cloud-first policy has been implemented within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This strategy aims to speed up the transition of government agencies from conventional IT solutions to cloud-based solutions. Furthermore, Saudi-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have already begun to embrace cloud computing to meet their technology needs. According to the research, more than a quarter of businesses have plans to deploy a combination of on-premise/dedicated private clouds, various public clouds, and legacy platforms.
These initiatives would have a positive impact in boosting the country’s cloud computing market. As a result, it will become a regional hub for innovation by transforming its technology landscape. Over the last few years, the country has already seen rapid adoption of digital transformation initiatives with global players entering the market.
In December 2020, Saudi Aramco and Google Cloud signed an agreement that paves way for the rollout of high-performance, low-latency cloud services. A similar move was done as well by Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and eWTP Arabia for Alibaba Cloud.
Key players operating in the country’s cloud computing market include Nournet, Wafai CLOUD, CloudSigma, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco Systems Inc, SAP SE, IBM, Etihad Etisalat Company, and Sahara Net.
