Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced on the third day of LEAP 2023, its intent to launch a new production site in Saudi Arabia to support the development of the Kingdom’s digital economy and meet growing customer demand. With sponsorship, support, and participation from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Investment, and the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, HPE will partner with Alfanar Digital Solutions, the digital solutions arm of Alfanar Projects, to produce models from its market leading compute portfolio in the Kingdom.

HPE and ADS intend to make a long-term multimillion-dollar investment that will support critical national initiatives in the public and private sectors, including education, health, oil and gas, financial services, and manufacturing. The investment comes as part of ADS's continuous endeavor and firm commitment to accelerate digital transformation, enrich local content, and empower various sectors in Saudi Arabia with innovative solutions. The project will support the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 and is predicted to contribute up to $500 million to Saudi GDP.

At launch, the project will bring enterprise IT production to Saudi Arabia, with HPE and ADS producing thousands of units annually from the leading HPE ProLiant Gen11 server family. Customized products will be produced that include multiple sophisticated configurations such as GPUs, processors, memory, motherboards, power supply, various storage options, and OEM products. Following the success of the project kickoff, HPE and ADS have ambitious plans for additional product lines in the coming years and production may be ramped up to support exports to the wider Middle East region.

Located in the city of Riyadh, the development of the ADS facility will support highly skilled jobs and help to develop the Saudi technology ecosystem. With a stated commitment to Saudization, HPE and ADS intend to train Saudi professionals in high-tech manufacturing and solution building.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) on this project to produce enterprise compute products in Saudi Arabia for the first time,” said Eng: Omar Ighrayeb, General Manager of Alfanar Digital Solutions and Manager of Digital Transformation at Alfanar Projects. “As one of the largest electronic and electrical products manufacturers and digital solutions providers in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, we’re looking forward to working with HPE to expand our capabilities and further contribute to growing the technology sector within the Kingdom. This is in line with our commitment to contribute to local content by empowering local IT industries.”