GEC NEWS WIREHewlett Packard Enterprise announced its intent to launch a new production site in Saudi Arabia to support the development of the Kingdom’s digital economy and meet growing customer demand. With sponsorship, support and participation from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Investment and the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority, HPE will partner with Alfanar, the leading manufacturer and digital solutions provider, to produce models from its market leading compute portfolio in the Kingdom.
HPE and Alfanar intend to make a long-term multi-million dollar investment that will support critical national initiatives in the public and private sectors, including education, health, oil and gas, financial services, and manufacturing. The investment will strengthen HPE’s deep rooted commitment to Saudi Arabia which goes back more than 30 years. The project will support the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative and is predicted to contribute up to $500m to Saudi GDP.
At launch, the project will bring enterprise IT production to Saudi Arabia, with HPE and Alfanar producing thousands of units annually from the leading HPE ProLiant Gen11 server family. Customized products will be produced that include multiple sophisticated configurations such as GPUs, processors, memory, and a wide variety of storage options and network implementations. Following the success of the project kickoff, HPE and Alfanar have ambitious plans for additional product lines in the coming years and production may be ramped up to support exports to the wider Middle East region.
Located in the city of Riyadh, the development of the Alfanar facility will support highly skilled jobs and help to develop the Saudi technology ecosystem. With a stated commitment to Saudization, HPE and Alfanar intend to train Saudi professionals in high-tech manufacturing and solution building.
“This partnership will be a significant enabler of the Kingdom’s digital ecosystem and reaffirms our aspiration to accelerate digital transformation,” said His Excellency the Vice Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Haitham bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ohali. “Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s intention to establish local production capabilities in Saudi Arabia supports the Kingdom’s ambition to become a high tech manufacturing hub and will play a vital role in developing a thriving digital economy. MCIT, MISA and the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority welcome the planned investment and will work together to support HPE as it seeks to scale its operations in the Kingdom.”
“Hewlett Packard Enterprise has been committed to Saudi Arabia for over 30 years, and will continue to invest in our people and our partnerships,” said Marc Waters, SVP and executive sponsor for Saudi Arabia, HPE. “In that spirit, we are absolutely delighted to confirm our intent to bring high tech enterprise IT production to the Kingdom. Today’s announcement is a statement of ambition and is just the beginning, we look forward to developing our partnership further, expanding our capability and making a significant, positive contribution to achieving the goals of Vision 2030.”
“We are delighted to be partnering with Hewlett Packard Enterprise on this project to produce enterprise compute products in Saudi Arabia for the first time,” 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’re looking forward to working with HPE to expand our capabilities and further contribute to growing the tech ecosystem within the Kingdom. This is in line with our commitment to contribute to local content by empowering local industries.”
Hewlett Packard Enterprise announces new Riyadh Headquarters for Middle East region
Mohammad Alrehaili appointed as Managing Director for country grouping that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq and Yemen
HPE announced the launch of its new Middle East organisation with its headquarters in Riyadh. The new organisation is led by Mohammad Alrehaili, who is responsible for HPE’s operations in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq and Yemen.
Mohammad joined HPE in 2022 as the Managing Director for HPE in Saudi Arabia, where he was tasked with driving business growth, expanding the talent pool and delivering an innovation agenda. Mohammad has more than 15 years of experience working in the technology industry in both the public and private sectors. He joined HPE from Mobily, where he served as a Senior Vice President for Business Sales. Prior to this, he worked at Cisco Systems in Riyadh, including roles in channel sales and business development.
Based at the new Riyadh headquarters, Mohammad will be responsible for building a culture of collaboration across the Middle East and into the global organisation. He will strengthen HPE’s partner ecosystem in the region to help drive continued growth and success with the HPE portfolio, particularly with the HPE GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform. Mohammad will also act as sales leader for Saudi Arabia, supporting public and private sector organisations with digital transformation programs that help them meet the Vision 2030 objectives.
“It is a great privilege to lead and shape the new HPE Middle East organisation from our new headquarters in Riyadh,” said Mohammad Alrehaili, Middle East Managing Director at HPE. “With the Saudi Government’s strong commitment to digital innovation through its Vision 2030, Riyadh is a natural home for our Middle East organization. I look forward to sharing learnings and driving collaboration across the region as we look to build on our momentum and replicate our customer successes throughout the Middle East. We have a differentiated edge-to-cloud portfolio, underpinned by the HPE GreenLake platform, that enables us to deliver a data-first modernization approach that our customers require in order to succeed.”
“I am delighted to announce our new Middle East headquarters in Riyadh. A vibrant city at the heart of a rapidly transforming country with big ambitions and a strong innovation agenda. It is the ideal base for Hewlett Packard Enterprise to bring value to our customers and partners in the region,” said Marc Waters, Senior Vice President & Executive Sponsor for Saudi Arabia, HPE. “Mohammad has made a big impact leading our Saudi Arabia business and is well placed to lead the growth strategy across our Middle East region. He is a compelling technologist, highly respected both internally and externally and has a powerful vision on the role of technology in advancing the way people live and work.”
United Arab Emirates serves as HPE’s headquarters for the Africa region and is operated separately from the rest of the Middle East organization. Ahmad Alkhallafi is Managing Director for the Emirates & Africa and is based in Dubai.
