LEAP 2026: HPE advances ‘Saudi Made’ strategy with expanded portfolio and new initiatives to accelerate Saudi innovation

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — September 1, 2026 — HPE (NYSE: HPE) today unveiled a package of investments and initiatives at LEAP 2026 to expand its “Saudi Made” strategy, announcing the ‘Saudi Made, Developed, Deployed’ program with Intel and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, an expanded locally produced portfolio that now includes HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 and MP X10000, and plans to open a Saudi Innovation Center at HPE’s new Riyadh offices.

"The investments we are announcing at LEAP represent the next phase of HPE’s long-term commitment to Saudi Arabia," said Mohammad Alrehaili, Vice President and Managing Director, Middle East, HPE. "By expanding our local infrastructure production and connecting it with Saudi‑developed technology, skills and integration and support service capabilities, we are helping customers accelerate innovation while strengthening the Kingdom’s end‑to‑end technology ecosystem."

The ‘Saudi Made, Developed, Deployed’ initiative, announced on the LEAP main stage, is a tripartite effort led by HPE, Intel and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to accelerate development, validation and commercialization of AI and digital transformation solutions built in Saudi Arabia. The program links locally manufactured infrastructure with Saudi-developed applications, intellectual property and implementation services to produce market‑ready solutions and blueprints for priority industries.

Nasser Al Nasser, Technology Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, also framed the program as ecosystem building: "A competitive digital economy depends on local capability, skilled talent and an ecosystem that can turn ideas into solutions with measurable impact," he said, adding that the initiative will bring technology leaders, Saudi innovators and local delivery expertise together to strengthen the Kingdom’s AI capabilities.

Key operational elements of the announcements include:

• Expansion of the locally produced HPE portfolio to include HPE Alletra Storage MP B10000 and MP X10000, offering resilient block, file and object storage and unified management through HPE GreenLake to support data‑intensive workloads and AI.
• Formation of a Saudi Innovation Center at HPE’s new Riyadh offices to provide a collaboration, testing and technical validation environment for customers, solution providers, startups and ecosystem partners.
• A factory services enhancement with alfanar formalized as HPE’s manufacturing and assembly partner in Saudi Arabia to support production, testing, certification and local fulfilment of HPE 'Saudi Made' solutions.
• Partner roles: Intel will supply compute and AI technologies plus architecture guidance, while founding software partners ShaheenAI, MOZN and OmniOps provide locally developed AI platforms; Alnahil Computers will be the lead systems integrator for packaging, deployment and operational support.

Abdullah Al Sulami, General Manager Power Solutions at alfanar, described the shift toward integrated local production: "The expansion of the ‘Saudi Made’ portfolio marks an important step in the development of Saudi Arabia’s advanced technology production capabilities. Through our partnership with HPE, we are moving beyond local assembly to provide integrated, tested and application‑ready systems."

HPE said the factory services offering will allow customers to receive pre‑integrated, pre‑configured and pre‑tested infrastructure systems — including component integration, certification, quality assurance and lifecycle service readiness — intended to reduce deployment complexity and accelerate time to operational use.

Outlook

The combined package — production expansion, partner ecosystem and a dedicated innovation center — is designed to help Saudi organisations validate practical business outcomes and commercialize locally developed AI and cloud solutions. With HPE and Intel providing the compute, storage and engineering frameworks and local partners responsible for software, systems integration and fulfilment, the announcement signals a push to turn domestic R&D and startups into deployable, enterprise‑grade offerings aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.