Six strategic collaborations at LEAP 2026 underline the growing importance of infrastructure, governance and local capabilities in Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions.
The conversation around artificial intelligence is rapidly moving beyond models and experimentation. The bigger question now is whether nations and enterprises can build the infrastructure, governance and skills required to deploy AI securely at production scale.
Magna AI used LEAP 2026 to make its answer clear: sovereign AI must be built as an integrated ecosystem.
During its four-day presence at DeepFest, the company showcased its “Own Your Intelligence” proposition through eight live demonstration pods spanning AI infrastructure, platforms, industry applications and cybersecurity. More importantly, it formalised six strategic collaborations designed to extend its capabilities across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East.
Four of the partnerships—with Saudi-based Boud, Foresighted, Intella and MBUZZ—place local expertise at the centre of the strategy. The collaborations span AI transformation, governed deployment, infrastructure integration, Arabic-language conversational AI and skills development.
“As AI adoption accelerates, the focus is shifting to how it can be deployed and scaled with confidence. We aim to help organisations move from experimentation to production while maintaining control over their data, models and operations,” said Dr. Moataz BinAli, Chief Executive Officer, Magna AI.
The partnership with Intella is particularly significant in the sovereign AI narrative, combining Arabic-first AI capabilities with secure infrastructure designed to support local and national requirements.
Meanwhile, collaborations with global technology players, including VAST Data, strengthen the underlying technology stack required for large-scale AI training, inference and emerging agentic workloads.
The strategy reflects a broader reality shaping the global AI market: sovereignty is not simply about where data resides. It increasingly includes control over infrastructure, models, operations, governance and talent.
For Saudi Arabia, Magna AI’s ecosystem approach aligns closely with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 ambitions—transforming AI from a technology opportunity into a strategic national capability.
