Hewlett Packard Enterprise presents groundbreaking ‘Saudi Made’ HPE servers at LEAP 2024

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced the availability of ‘Saudi Made’ HPE servers, following the opening of its new Riyadh production facility. In partnership with alfanar, HPE will produce thousands of servers per year from its market leading HPE ProLiant compute portfolio. The site employs a majority female workforce, enhancing HPE’s existing commitment to Saudization and Vision 2030. Having already invested millions of dollars, HPE and alfanar are in discussions about significantly growing the output from the facility, as well as adding additional product lines.

With sponsorship, support and participation from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Investment, Saudi Exports Development Authority and the Communications, Space & Technology Commission, the new production facility will meet the growing demand from customers in Saudi Arabia and further strengthen and diversify HPE’s global supply chain. As part of the ‘Saudi Made’ program, HPE’s servers will carry the ‘Saudi Tech’ logo.

The first facility of its kind in Saudi Arabia, the groundbreaking enterprise IT production site will produce thousands of HPE ProLiant DL360 and DL380 Gen11 servers per year. These next-generation models are engineered for hybrid environments, deliver trusted security by design, and optimized for AI workloads, such as computer vision inference, generative visual AI, and end-to-end natural language processing - key to Saudi Arabia’s goal to be a leader in the development and application of AI by 2030.

Demand for IT infrastructure is expected to grow rapidly in Saudi Arabia, driven by the needs of the Kingdom’s giga-projects as well as emerging technologies like AI. To meet this demand, HPE is creating dozens of new sales and technical roles at our Middle East headquarters in Riyadh. Under the leadership of HPE’s Middle East managing director, Mohammad Alrehaili, these teams will accelerate the technology innovation ecosystem, support the ‘Saudi Made’ program, and advance AI and supercomputing technologies.

HPE and alfanar are already exploring further investments to increase the volume of output from the facility, including new production lines dedicated to servers optimized for telecoms and Cloud Service Providers.

In addition to supporting the Saudi Vision 2030 by establishing a production site in Riyadh, HPE is committed to Saudization through knowledge transfer. More specifically, the new facility currently employs a majority female Saudi workforce who undergo a rigorous high-tech training scheme with HPE’s global experts. This knowledge transfer is just the beginning of a long-term project to train Saudi workers to develop and build world leading technologies.

As Saudi Arabia solidifies its position as a manufacturing hub, Vice Minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Haitham Al-Ohali, emphasizes the impact: "This marks a significant step in positioning Saudi Arabia as a global tech manufacturing leader and a catalyst for the Kingdom's digital economy. The collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and alfanar is now materializing as production lines in Saudi Arabia commence operation. This achievement signifies progress in the nation's technology landscape.”

“The opening of our production facility in Riyadh is a significant milestone for HPE and demonstrates our strong commitment to the Saudi Arabian market and the Saudi Made program,” said Mohammad Alrehaili, Middle East Managing Director at HPE. “With this long-term investment, we look forward to supporting the country’s ambitious growth agenda and deploying next generation technologies at the heart of some the world’s largest development projects. We are proud to build on our deep-rooted commitment to Saudi Arabia by bringing enterprise IT production to the country for the first time, creating highly skilled jobs for Saudi nationals and accelerating the development of the local tech ecosystem.”

Abdul Raouf Ezzi, General Manager of Energy and Water Projects at alfanar Electric, emphasized the significance of importing advanced technological expertise into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He articulated a firm commitment to the empowerment of women in digital sectors, particularly in information technology. “Fostering female participation in these fields aligns with alfanar’s dedication to our community. Saudi talent is consistently pushing boundaries to not only meet but surpass international standards and practices,” he asserted.

“Our new production facility in Saudi Arabia represents an exciting new development in the HPE supply chain, and the speed in which it has launched is a testament to our partner alfanar and the thriving innovation culture in Saudi Arabia,” said Phil Cutrone, Senior Vice President & General Manager for service providers, OEM and Telco at HPE. “The strength of the Saudi market, its thriving tech ecosystem and skilled workforce gives us great optimism that this site can grow rapidly, delivering thousands of HPE servers, as well as adding product lines from our storage and networking portfolios.”

“We're delighted to partner with Hewlett Packard Enterprise to develop the optimal environment to drive the production of ‘Saudi Tech‘ enterprise technology,” said Amer Al Ajmi, Executive Vice President, alfanar. “As one of the largest electrical and electronic products manufacturers and digital solutions providers in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, we’ve been continuously increasing our efforts to contribute to local content by empowering local industries. In this context, we’re looking forward to further expanding our capabilities, adding new HPE product lines to our production portfolio, and further contribute to growing the tech ecosystem within the Kingdom.”