Saudi Arabia’s next growth phase will be built on secure digital foundations

Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation has transitioned from long-term aspiration to operational reality, with leaders warning that the Kingdom’s next growth phase hinges on secure, scalable digital foundations. Bader Almadi, vice president and managing director of Cisco Saudi Arabia, highlighted that AI could add $135.2 billion to the Saudi economy by 2030 — about 12.4 percent of GDP — while also stressing stark readiness gaps: just 29 percent of organisations report robust GPU resources, 31 percent say infrastructure requires significant upgrades, and 45 percent expect AI workloads to increase by more than 30 percent within a year.

"AI is the ultimate test for these foundations," Almadi said, framing the technology as both opportunity and a rigorous stressor for networks, data platforms and security systems. He also emphasised the operational principle of "continuity by design" as central to sustaining services across the increasingly connected economy.

Almadi laid out a concise risk-reward profile for the Kingdom’s AI ambitions. On the upside, the economic projection of $135.2 billion underlines the scale of potential gains. On the downside, Cisco’s own indexes point to critical gaps in readiness: its AI Readiness Index found that while a minority of organisations have strong GPU capacity, nearly a third require major infrastructure upgrades. Meanwhile, Cisco’s 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index reported only 25 percent of Saudi organisations possess the maturity to withstand current threats, and a striking 91 percent have already experienced AI-related security incidents.

• Infrastructure: 29% of organisations have robust GPU resources; 31% report infrastructure needs major upgrades.
• Workload growth: 45% expect AI workloads to rise by more than 30% within a year.
• Security maturity: only 25% of organisations are adequately prepared for current cyber threats; 91% have faced AI-related incidents.
• Talent gap: 93% of organisations report shortages of skilled cybersecurity professionals.

These figures inform Cisco’s prescription: integrating trusted connectivity, real-time observability and coordinated security to detect issues before outages occur and to reduce restoration complexity. Almadi argued that business continuity is no longer a back-office consideration but a strategic imperative that directly affects customer experience and national trust as services move online across government, finance, health care and industry.

Talent development, he added, must accompany technology deployment. Since 1999, the Cisco Networking Academy has trained half a million learners in the Kingdom, a metric Almadi cited as evidence that scaling national skills is both necessary and achievable. He warned, however, that 93 percent of organisations still face shortages in cybersecurity talent — a gap that could undercut AI-driven growth if left unaddressed.

Looking ahead, Almadi argued that the Kingdom’s ability to realise Vision 2030-era ambitions will depend not only on how boldly organisations adopt AI, but on how confidently they can scale it while preserving continuity and trust. "Resilience is not created in a single technology cycle; it is built over time through trusted partnerships and operational discipline," he said, urging an approach that treats security, observability and connectivity as integrated foundations for sustained digital growth.