사진 확대 Naver booth at ‘LEAP 2025’ held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in March last year. Naver
A large number of Korean artificial intelligence (AI) companies will participate in LEAP 2026, the largest information technology (IT) exhibition in the Middle East called “Middle East CES.” While Naver is making progress by winning a digital twin business in Saudi Arabia, it is also actively moving to target local demand for Sovereign AI such as AI models and semiconductors.
According to the IT industry on the 27th, Naver will open a booth under the name of ‘Naver Innovation’ at LEAP 2026, which will open in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the 31st (local time). Naver Innovation is a joint venture established by Naver with the National Housing Corporation of Saudi Arabia (NHC) in May last year for its Saudi business.
◆ A large number of AI semiconductor and model companies will participate
Naver has been active in the Saudi market since 2024, participating in LEAP events every year. As it has recently achieved results with a digital twin platform, its strategy is to open a booth this year and focus on strengthening cooperation with the Saudi government and corporate partners.
In this year’s exhibition, the booth will be operated jointly with NHC Innovation. In addition to the digital twin platform to be built for Saudi local governments, Naver will introduce robot-based smart building technology along with map-based super app demos developed locally.
Global companies targeting the Middle East market are highly interested as major local government agencies such as Saudi Data Agency (SDAIA) and AI companies Humane under Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) will all participate in this event. The Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association (KOSA), which is tapping the Saudi market through the domestic ‘Full Stack AI Consortium’, will also form a consortium with major companies to visit the event.
MegaZone Cloud, Upstage, NCAI, Eurach, and Puriosa AI, which participated in the consortium, will open a booth at LEAP 2026. The consortium has also been conducting technology demonstrations with Aramco Digital, Aramco’s digital-only corporation.
◆ Overseas Big Tech also actively expands Saudi Arabia
Not only Korean companies but also foreign companies are aiming for Saudi Arabia’s demand to build a Sovereign AI ecosystem. Saudi Arabia is actively investing in AI semiconductors, models, and services through PIF, while attracting infrastructure investments such as AI data centers from big techs.
Last year alone, AMD launched a $10 billion AI infrastructure project with Humane, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will also invest $5 billion with Humane. This month alone, Humane signed partnerships with France’s Mistral AI and Canada’s Koheer for Sovereign AI, respectively. Such fierce competition is considered a challenge for Korean companies.
Meanwhile, LEAP, which was visited by more than 200,000 people as of last year, will be attended by a large number of major big tech companies such as Google Cloud, AWS, Nvidia, and AMD this year. Chinese companies such as Huawei and Unity will also introduce their technologies. Big names leading big tech, such as AMD CEO Lisa Su and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, will also take the podium. In Korea, LG Technology Ventures CEO Kim Dong-soo and Revelion CEO Park Sung-hyun will present the theme.
[Reporter Jeong Hojun]