HP has officially inaugurated its first global technology manufacturing facility in Riyadh and launched an AI Research and Development Centre of Excellence in Dhahran, signalling a strong commitment to advancing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda.
News in Brief
- The Riyadh facility begins full-scale operations, creating thousands of jobs for local talent.
- Dhahran’s new AI R&D Centre of Excellence drives innovation in artificial intelligence.
- HP expands educational partnerships to enhance digital skills and support Vision 2030 objectives.
HP (NYSE: HPQ) today marked a major milestone with the commencement of operations at its new Riyadh-based manufacturing facility and the official opening of its AI R&D Centre of Excellence in Dhahran. The two initiatives are designed to boost local employment, accelerate technological progress, and support the Kingdom’s growing digital economy.
“Saudi Arabia has a bright future, is developing rapidly, and needs partners who are equally willing and able to move fast, invest and commit to driving the Kingdom’s economic transformation,” said Fadle Saad, Managing Director of HP MENA Regional Headquarters. “At HP, we are proud to partner, leverage our speed and scale to enable the future of work, by creating high quality jobs for Saudi citizens and contribute meaningfully to the local and national economy.”
The first global tech company manufacturing facility in KSA
A regional first, manufacturing facility, first announced at LEAP 2025, was formally declared open for business today at an event hosted in Riyadh. Operations have begun with the HP EliteDesk AI PC. The facility will focus first on desktop PCs and expand across the product portfolio to the production line.
Manufacturing in Riyadh brings production closer to demand across KSA and MEA, improving lead times, customization and supply-chain resilience. HP will continue working with regional partners to build an ecosystem and skilled workforce aligned to industry needs, while operating to global quality standards.
HP AI R&D Center of Excellence is up and running
First announced at LEAP 2025, the AI R&D Centre of Excellence in Dhahran will strengthen HP Saudi Arabia’s capacity for innovation and accelerate delivery of AI solutions for customers in multiple sectors. Early workstreams include Arabic large language models and other applications that can be embedded in HP AI PCs and Workstations. HP AI experts from other centers are on site to accelerate setup, transfer methods, and mentor local teams. The CoE will deliver AI-powered data analysis, robotic process automation, and decision-making support solutions to raise productivity and competitiveness across sectors such as energy, healthcare, logistics, and smart cities. The lab is equipped with multiple dual-GPU HP AI Workstations and launches with the aim of investing in local Saudi talent and AI startups.
The center’s remit includes local talent development through collaboration with KSA’s educational institutions, with hands-on projects, workshops, seminars and student exchange with other HP AI labs. Success will be measured by the number of people trained, engineers hired, and R&D outputs. With just 20% of knowledge workers globally reporting a healthy relationship with work, according to HP’s 2025 Work Relationship Index, this initiative also supports HP’s broader efforts to create more fulfilling and future-ready work experiences.
“HP is proud to deepen its commitment to the Kingdom with an AI R&D Center that is already delivering value,” said Helena Herrero, SVP & Managing Director, HP Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa, HP. “By pairing expertise from around the world, with Saudi talent and local partners, we will advance practical AI and develop customer focused solutions for the future of work across the region.”
Educating Saudi Youth through the Power of Gaming
HP is expanding skills programs that use gaming as an on-ramp to tech careers, aligned with Vision 2030 and the National Gaming and Esports Strategy’s targets of 250 Saudi gaming companies by 2030 and 30 Saudi-made titles in the global top 300 by 2031.
Building an end-to-end value chain, from learning and competency application to incubation, acceleration and job creation, will help position Saudi Arabia at the center of the gaming industry. HP provides the following updates.
- Tuwaiq Academy. The opening cohort graduated in April 2025, with six additional cohorts scheduled before year-end. Tuwaiq, a subsidiary of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming & Drones, is the Kingdom’s primary provider of advanced technology education. The partnership offers a blended HP Gaming Garage curriculum that combines self-paced online study, instructor-led in-person sessions and a three-week bootcamp in game design and programming. This builds practical skills and feeds the national talent pipeline.
- Savvy Games Group. HP and Savvy, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF),launched the GameOn Game Jam in April 2025 with Saudi Electronic University, themed around climate and sustainability and aligned with the Saudi Green Initiative. Ten finalist teams pitched at a July grand finale at Savvy HQ in Riyadh. The top three teams – from King AbdulAziz University, Jeddah, Taif University and University of Jeddah, and from University of Prince Mugrin, Madinah – earned places in the Savvy Games & Xsolla Incubator, a three-month intensive mentorship, training, and entrepreneurial development program which began in September 2025. The success of the first game jam means this collaboration will continue in 2026.
HP will deploy HP Gaming Garage’s fifth course, “CryptoGuard: Securing the Future of Game Development with Blockchain” across KSA programs, adding cybersecurity and blockchain via a free edX Professional Certificate. In parallel, HP’s new partnership with Exel by Merak will embed Gaming Garage courses in the Exel Gaming Accelerator to create hands-on pathways in game design, coding, AI, cybersecurity, and blockchain for Saudi founders.
