IBM and Lenovo Collaborate to Advance Generative AI Development in Saudi Arabia

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Published inAI News · 5 min read · Feb 11, 2025

At the recent LEAP2025 conference, IBM and Lenovo announced plans to further expand their strategic technology partnership, aimed at enhancing the application and impact of generative artificial intelligence in Saudi Arabia.

According to IDC's forecast, global annual spending on AI-related systems is expected to exceed $300 billion by 2026. Many leading organizations in Saudi Arabia are actively exploring and investing in applications of generative AI to prepare for the upcoming "AI Everywhere" era.

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Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from Midjourney

This collaboration builds on the 20-year partnership between IBM and Lenovo, with both companies planning to jointly launch a series of AI solutions. These solutions will integrate IBM's watsonx AI product suite, particularly the open-source Arabic large language model (ALLaM) developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), along with Lenovo's infrastructure. These new products are expected to help government and enterprise clients in Saudi Arabia accelerate the application of AI to improve public services and drive data-driven decision-making across various fields, including fraud detection, public safety, customer service, code modernization, and IT operations.

Currently, organizations in Saudi Arabia can access ALLaM through the watsonx platform, utilizing advanced AI capabilities to train, fine-tune, and deploy ALLaM, while running their AI workloads on Lenovo's infrastructure to support both local and cloud-based use cases. The newly launched solutions will provide clients with more ways to leverage the powerful capabilities of generative AI in a transparent, trustworthy, and flexible manner.

Giovanni Di Filippo, President of Lenovo's EMEA Infrastructure Solutions Group, stated, "Today's announcement marks an important step in the long-term partnership between IBM and Lenovo. We are excited to deepen our collaboration by combining IBM's applicable generative AI products with Lenovo's infrastructure solutions to provide tailored solutions to our Saudi clients."

Ayman Alrahid, Vice President of IBM Saudi Arabia, also emphasized the two companies' history of innovative collaboration over the past 20 years. He expressed optimism that this new partnership would combine Lenovo's infrastructure with IBM's AI products to create greater value for Saudi clients using small, efficient open-source models tailored to specific use cases and geographical needs.

Key Points:
🌐 IBM and Lenovo are expanding their collaboration in Saudi Arabia to promote the application of generative AI.
💡 The newly launched AI solutions will integrate the ALLaM model with Lenovo's infrastructure to enhance public services and data-driven decision-making.
🚀 Global AI spending is expected to exceed $300 billion in the coming years, with Saudi organizations actively investing in generative AI.

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