AI Adoption and the AI Business Opportunities in the GCC countries

AI use among internet users in Saudi Arabia has more than doubled in a year, reaching 45.2%, while billions of dollars continue to go into the infrastructure supporting the technology across the GCC.

Until recently, much of the Gulf AI story centred on investment, national AI strategies and what governments planned to build. In 2026, those plans are becoming easier to see in the commercial market, as infrastructure comes into use and companies find more ways to apply AI and scale AI within their own businesses.

The region is maturing as AI leaders. GITEX Global, Dubai AI Festival, Blockchain Life & AI Future Week, Web Summit Qatar, Global A Show in Riyadh are among the many industry events drawing industry investors to the GCC. There are also many active initiatives encouraging and engaging entrepreneurs to become part of the change and bring strategic value. The Dubai Chamber recently launched an AI initiative, calling on UAE residents and entrepreneurs to build AI agents that are designed to solve problems. They have launched a prize and the winners will receive a USD150,000 grant to develop, grow and scale their AI-agent and AI driven solution.

Saudi Arabia’s AI data centre capacity has grown several times over since 2021, reaching more than 467MW by the first quarter of 2026. Further development is coming through HUMAIN, the AI company owned by the Public Investment Fund, as the Kingdom builds more of the digital infrastructure needed to support AI locally.

Large AI projects and initiative are also taking shape elsewhere in the Gulf, with the UAE’s Stargate project expected to begin coming online in Abu Dhabi during 2026 and Qatar putting substantial capital behind AI infrastructure through a USD20 billion partnership between Qai and Brookfield. Building this level of infrastructure within the region points to the Gulf becoming a larger market for developing and delivering technology services, rather than primarily a customer for technology developed elsewhere.

Global AI opportunities

The rapid increase in AI adoption and AI usage in Saudi Arabia is beginning to have a parallel in business, with more than a third of GCC business leaders surveyed by PwC already integrating AI into their products and services.

But only 16% of GCC CEOs said their most-used AI tools could access all the company information they required. That gap says quite a lot about where businesses are with AI systems. Adoption is moving quickly, while the data and systems needed to get more from the technology are often catching up.

For technology companies, some of the opportunity sits in that gap. Helping an established business organise its data or connect AI with the systems it already uses can be just as commercially relevant as supplying the technology itself.

Growing demand for AI-related skills in the UAE is already reflecting some of that activity, with technical expertise increasingly finding its way into established businesses as they introduce AI into work they already do.

For overseas technology companies, this broadens the potential customer base beyond the large infrastructure projects attracting most of the attention. An established business trying to make better use of AI can become a customer too, bringing opportunities closer to the day-to-day needs of companies across the Middle East.

A technology company generating most of its work from Saudi customers may find a local presence increasingly useful as those relationships develop, while one serving clients across several Gulf countries has more reason to consider a regional base.

The UAE’s established international technology community and growing computing capacity can suit that wider regional role. Qatar offers another route into the market as sovereign capital supports AI infrastructure locally and overseas, with its relevance depending on the customers and projects a company expects to develop there.

Saudi Arabia presents a different commercial proposition where the domestic market itself is the main attraction. With AI capabilities changing, use of AI increasing quickly and substantial investment continuing in the sector, technology companies targeting Saudi customers may have stronger reasons to build their operation closer to them.

As investment turns into wider business use, the opportunities developing around AI will increasingly be found in the companies adopting the technology as well as the major projects behind it. For international technology businesses, where those customers and projects develop will help determine where a presence in the GCC makes commercial sense.

How Sovereign can help artificial intelligence companies across the GCC region

Sovereign supports international businesses establishing and expanding across GCC markets, including technology companies entering the region.

For businesses responding to opportunities in the Gulf’s growing technology market, Sovereign can support the establishment and ongoing administration of local or regional operations, based on where the company expects to do business and how it plans to serve its customers.