Saudi Arabia’s STC, Alibaba Group Announce Cloud Services Deal Of $500 Mln

A strategic partnership has been announced between Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Alibaba Cloud, a major technology company in China.

Under the partnership, the Chinese company will offer high-performance computing services in Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the Saudi capital, Riyadh, will be the regional centre for the Chinese group’s administrative and training affairs. It should be noted that Saudi Telecom Company is the largest telecom operator in the country.

Faisal Al-Khamisi, Chairman of the Management Board of the Saudi Federation for Cyber ​​Security and Programming, said that this partnership is a key element in supporting the strategic and digital infrastructure of the Kingdom is a cornerstone of the development of digital infrastructure. year partnership before the end of 2021 will be put into practice.

Nasser bin Sulaiman al-Nasser  CEO of STC Group said “This collaboration is a significant milestone for STC in our efforts to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 by introducing a trusted cloud service partner. It’s pivotal for companies to deploy and maintain an elastic, scalable and secure IT infrastructure to keep competitive and innovative in the digital era.”

China’s Alibaba Cloud Company is one of the best cloud computing services providers in the world.

Cloud computing is known to be a key factor in building a strong digital economy. Importantly, thanks to the “Vision 2030” plans, Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world in terms of the Digital Infrastructure Index. Saudi Arabia has improved its position by 40 places and is ranked 8th in the list of top 20 countries. This is according to a 2020 report released by the United Nations to assess progress in the field of e-governance.

The Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence signed a memorandum of understanding with Alibaba Cloud Company in October. It aims to establish strategic partnerships to lead innovation in the country’s smart cities using artificial intelligence technology.

The Saudi authority and Alibaba are working on the application of digital solutions and artificial intelligence in several sectors of the kingdom. These sectors include Safety and Security, Transport, Energy, Education, Health and Urban Planning.