RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s AI-native startups are outperforming global and regional peers in strategic execution and commercial growth, highlighting the kingdom’s efforts to become a global technology hub under Vision 2030, according to a report released by Amazon Web Services on Tuesday.
The report, titled “Engines of Growth,” surveyed 3,413 startup founders and senior leaders from 20 countries to examine the rise of AI-native companies (businesses less than five years old that were built around advanced artificial intelligence from the start).
The findings show that AI-native companies scale and reach important business milestones faster than traditional companies with significantly fewer employees.
According to the Saudi datasheet attached to the report, 72% of Saudi AI-native startups have developed a formal AI strategy, higher than the global average of 68% for AI-natives and significantly higher than traditional companies.
Saudi AI-native startups also reported an average annual revenue growth rate of 150%. This is close to the global AI native average of 156% and significantly higher than the 62% recorded by Saudi startups overall.
The report found that Saudi AI-native companies are almost five times more likely to have annual revenue of more than $1 million compared to traditional Saudi startups.
Almost half (48%) have revenues of more than $400,000 per employee, compared to 28% of startups in the Kingdom overall. Cloud adoption is also widespread, with 98 percent of companies integrating cloud services into their operations, compared to 75 percent of traditional startups.
Furthermore, 63% have developed their own AI capabilities, including custom AI models, and 45% are using AI extensively in R&D, compared to 35% of all Saudi startups.
“The difference is not whether startups use AI, but how they use it,” Amr Al-Masri, AWS country leader for Saudi Arabia, told Arab News.
Most companies are adding AI to their existing processes. AI-native companies start with what AI can do and build their business around that capability.
He said AI-native startups are emerging as a critical link between cutting-edge AI innovation and enterprise transformation as they embed AI directly into workflows across industries.
Al-Masri said the sector’s rapid growth is due to Saudi investments in digital infrastructure, AI development and startup support under Vision 2030.
He added that Saudi Arabia is creating the right environment through a combination of infrastructure, investment and regulation, highlighting efforts to develop an AI regulatory framework and expand support for startup accelerators.
