News

GSMA M360 Connectivity Event Returns To Riyadh

Taking place 5-6 December at Fairmont Riyadh, the event will feature keynotes and forums with global and regional industry leaders, experts, and innovators.

Published

3 years ago

November 22, 2023

Nour Nasir

GSMA

GSMA is returning to Saudi Arabia with its M360 event. Along with host sponsor stc and Gold Sponsor Salam, the expo will offer the ideal platform to explore strategies and form collaborations in one of the world’s most dynamic and rapidly growing digital capitals.

Taking place 5-6 December at Fairmont Riyadh, the agenda will feature “global and regional industry leaders, innovators, and experts” in a series of forums and keynotes. Noteworthy names include Ahmed Alsohaily (Red Sea Global), Dr. Bocar A. Ba (SAMENA Telecommunications Council), Håkan Cervell (stc), Hatem Dowindar (e&), Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Bin Nasser Al Thani (Ooredoo), Dr. Maher Shira (Royal Commission for Riyadh City), and more.

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Attendees will hear discussions and presentations on key industry topics at the forefront of technological change, including network transformation, 5G, cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and edge computing.

For more information, please visit the GSMA website.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.