Collaboration to offer Saudi Arabia-specific client solutions comprised of generative AI products from IBM watsonx portfolio and Lenovo infrastructure.
RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA – February 9, 2025 – IBM and Lenovo today announced at LEAP 2025 a planned expansion of their strategic technology partnership designed to help scale the impact of generative AI for clients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
IDC expects annual worldwide spending on AI-centric systems to surpass $300 billion by 2026, with many leading organizations in Saudi Arabia exploring and investing in generative AI use cases as they prepare for the emergence of an ‘AI everywhere’ world.1
Building upon their 20-year partnership, IBM and Lenovo will collaborate to deliver AI solutions comprised of technology from the IBM watsonx portfolio of AI products, including the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) open-source Arabic Large Language Model (ALLaM), and Lenovo infrastructure. These solutions are expected to help government and business clients in the Kingdom to accelerate their use of AI to improve public services and make data-driven decisions in areas such as fraud detection, public safety, customer service, code modernization, and IT operations.
“Today’s announcement represents an important step in the longstanding relationship between IBM and Lenovo,” said Giovanni Di Filippo, President of EMEA, Infrastructure Solutions Group at Lenovo. “We’re pleased to deepen our partnership to bring IBM’s fit-for-purpose generative AI offerings together with Lenovo’s infrastructure solutions for both on-premises and cloud use to provide customers in Saudi Arabia with solutions designed to meet their unique needs in this fast-paced growing market.”
Organizations in Saudi Arabia are currently able to access ALLaM through watsonx; use advanced AI capabilities to train, tune, and deploy ALLaM; and run their AI workloads on Lenovo infrastructure for both on-premises and cloud use cases. The new solutions are expected to provide additional ways for clients to harness the power of Generative AI with an approach based on transparency, trust, and choice.
“IBM and Lenovo have a rich history of joint innovation and partnership that spans two decades,” said Ayman AlRashed, Regional Vice President, IBM Saudi Arabia. “We look forward to this new collaboration to bring together Lenovo’s infrastructure offerings and IBM’s AI portfolio, which utilizes small, efficient, open-source models targeted for specific use cases and geographic requirements. Together we will drive even greater value for our mutual clients in the Kingdom.”
Statements regarding IBM’s and Lenovo’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.
1 Navigating AI-Driven Digital Transformation at the IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2024
About IBM:
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a US$57 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #248 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.
