IBM Trains Half a Million Saudis, Takes a Bold Leap into AI Aviation

IBM seems to have wrapped up quite a milestone year in Saudi Arabia, particularly as the Kingdom keeps pushing hard on its Vision 2030 digital goals. The company’s SkillsBuild programme, run alongside the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, has now trained more than 500,000 Saudis in areas like AI, cloud computing, and data technologies. That figure is well beyond what many expected at the start, and I reckon it shows how hungry young people in the country are for tech skills that actually translate into jobs.

From what’s been shared publicly, the initiative has worked with major national institutions such as King Saud University, Princess Nourah University, the National eLearning Center, the Saudi Data and AI Authority, and the SAMAI initiative. It also made a point of widening opportunities for women and even introduced high-school students to emerging technologies—an age where most of us were still trying to figure out why our laptops kept freezing. On top of that, over 2,000 teachers have been trained in AI and computer science with help from the National Institute for Educational Professional Development. For anyone who’s followed the shift in digital education across the region, that’s no small feat and, frankly, avoids a lot of the faff that happens when tech arrives in schools without proper guidance.

One thing that caught my attention—maybe because at Arageek we often chat with founders about the gap between academia and industry—is IBM’s expansion into the Al-Baha region. The company has kicked off a new Center of Excellence there after students from Al-Baha University completed specialised programmes. That move gives graduates a clearer pathway into tech careers, rather than the usual “good luck out there” most of us heard when we finished university. And believe it or not, the collaboration has gone a step further with the university joining IBM’s 2025 Impact Accelerator cohort. Together, they’re working on a logistics optimisation framework called CH-MARL, using IBM watsonx.ai and IBM Cloud to streamline cargo fleet operations. It’s the kind of detail that tends to get buried, but it shows how AI research in Saudi isn’t just theoretical anymore—it’s heading straight into the real economy.

On the flip side, the biggest headline-grabber might be IBM’s work with Riyadh Air. The airline is being built as the world’s first “AI-native” carrier, meaning no legacy IT systems weighing it down. Everything—from employee tools to customer journeys to operational intelligence—is designed around AI from day one, supported by IBM Consulting Advantage and a global network of partners. Riyadh Air plans to start flying commercially in early 2026, and if things go to plan, the project could become a bit of a blueprint for other airlines wondering how to modernise without spending half their budget patching up old systems. I’m not usually a fan of grand claims in aviation, but this one might actually be spot on… well, providing the rollout doesn’t run into the usual turbulence.

All in all, IBM’s year in Saudi Arabia shows how quickly the Kingdom’s digital ambitions are moving. And as someone who meets plenty of MENA founders trying to scale with limited resources, I’m chuffed to bits seeing big players and universities create more accessible pathways. It definately feels like the kind of momentum that could reshape the region’s talent pipeline for years to come.

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