Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, has expanded its presence in the Middle East with a new regional headquarters (RHQ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The company has also announced its general availability on Google Cloud in the Kingdom, ensuring data resides within Saudi Arabia’s borders and meets the Kingdom’s data residency and sovereignty requirements.
As part of Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom focuses on data sovereignty and privacy. Saudi’s Personal Data Protection Law of 2023 (PDPL) highlights the national priority on data integrity, privacy, and security.
Working in parallel, the Saudi Arabian data analytics market is projected to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent during 2024-2032, emphasizing the Kingdom’s commitment to leveraging data-driven insights and AI technologies.
Mohamed Zouari General Manager (Middle East, Africa and Turkey) – Snowflake
“Snowflake’s expansion in Saudi Arabia is a pivotal step in our commitment to supporting and empowering Saudi organizations to meet local data regulations with faster, cost-efficient, secure, and compliant data solutions. With our local deployment on Google Cloud, organizations in the KSA can use a foundational data strategy to unlock deeper data insights powered by AI, driving business innovation, all while meeting the highest standards of data residency and sovereignty.”
Customers in the Middle East have already started using Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud to discover and securely share data, as well as execute diverse analytic workloads, through Snowflake’s existing regional deployment in Dubai. With Snowflake’s deployment on Google Cloud in the KSA, regional customers have further flexibility of choice for deployment, and are able to choose a geographical region that best suits their operational needs.
Organizations such as Almarai have adopted Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud to better access data to drive business decision making, all in a secure and governed platform.
“The availability of Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud in Saudi Arabia aligns seamlessly with our commitment to having secure and governed data solutions, where data resides within regional boundaries. This deployment marks a significant advancement in our ability to manage and analyze data, paving the way for new opportunities in our digital initiatives,” added Dr. Faisal Al-Nasser, CIO, Almarai.
