IBM and Lenovo work together in Saudi Arabia to further promote the application of generative artificial intelligence and help the Saudi government and enterprises improve their public services and data-driven decision-making capabilities. This move comes as global spending on artificial intelligence is expected to exceed US$300 billion in the next few years. Saudi Arabia is also actively investing and exploring application scenarios for generative artificial intelligence to cope with the upcoming era of "artificial intelligence is everywhere". Based on the 20-year partnership between the two parties, the cooperation will integrate IBM's watsonx artificial intelligence product portfolio, the open source Arabic Large Language Model (ALLaM) developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Agency (SDAIA), and Lenovo's infrastructure. Saudi customers provide more complete AI solutions.
At the recent LEAP2025 conference, IBM and Lenovo announced that they will further expand the strategic technical cooperation relationship between the two companies, aiming to enhance the application and influence of generative artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia.
According to IDC's forecast, global annual spending on artificial intelligence-related systems will exceed US$300 billion by 2026, and many leading organizations in Saudi Arabia are also actively exploring and investing in application scenarios of generative artificial intelligence to cope with the upcoming "Artificial intelligence is everywhere" era.
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The cooperation will be based on a 20-year partnership between IBM and Lenovo, and the two parties plan to jointly launch a series of AI solutions. These solutions will combine IBM's watsonx artificial intelligence portfolio, specifically the open source Arabic Large Language Model (ALLaM) developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Agency (SDAIA), and Lenovo's infrastructure. These new products are expected to help Saudi government and corporate customers accelerate the application of artificial intelligence to improve public services and promote data-based decision-making, covering multiple fields such as fraud detection, public safety, customer service, code modernization and IT operations and maintenance.
Currently, Saudi organizations can access ALLaM through the watsonx platform, leverage advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to train, tune and deploy ALLaM, and run their AI workloads on Lenovo's infrastructure to support local and cloud usage scenarios. The newly launched solutions will provide customers with more ways to help them leverage the powerful capabilities of generative AI in transparent, trustworthy and flexible ways.
Giovanni Di Filippo, President of Lenovo EMEA Infrastructure Solutions Group, said: “Today’s announcement marks an important step in the long-term partnership between IBM and Lenovo. We are very pleased to deepen our cooperation and bring the generic approach that IBM applies to Artificial intelligence products are combined with Lenovo’s infrastructure solutions to provide Saudi customers with solutions that meet their unique needs.”
IBM Saudi Arabia Vice President Ayman Alrahed also emphasized the 20-year history of innovation cooperation between the two companies. He said that he hopes that the new cooperation will combine Lenovo's infrastructure with IBM's AI products, and use a small, efficient open source model to create greater value for Saudi customers in targeting specific usage scenarios and geographical needs.
Key points:
IBM and Lenovo expand cooperation in Saudi Arabia to promote the application of generative artificial intelligence.
The newly launched AI solution will combine the ALLaM model with Lenovo infrastructure to enable public services and data-driven decision-making.
Global AI spending is expected to exceed US$300 billion in the next few years, and Saudi Arabia actively invests in generative artificial intelligence.
IBM's cooperation with Lenovo marks a new chapter in the application of generative artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia. By integrating the advantages of both sides, Saudi Arabia will bring more advanced and more effective AI solutions, further promote its digital transformation process, and promote economic development and social progress. This is undoubtedly a positive case of artificial intelligence technology empowering social development.