News

Information technology (IT) in the Middle East

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  Interview: Shaping the future of AI in the UAE

  At Gitex 2025 in Dubai, the largest tech show in the Middle East, Chiara Marcati, chief AI advisory and business officer at AI71, discusses the UAE’s ambition to become a global leader in artificial intelligence

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  Microsoft and the UAE: Driving AI from strategy to real impact

  Exploring how Microsoft and the UAE are turning AI ambition into practical solutions, empowering talent, and guiding CIOs to adopt AI at scale

• October 13, 2025 13 Oct'25

  UAE AI minister: ‘We’ll have 10,000 AI companies in five years’

  Gulf state AI minister sets out plans to encourage artificial intelligence companies with certification and ranking based on AI competence and UAE presence at startup event in Dubai this week

• October 09, 2025 09 Oct'25

  AI and autonomous vehicles drive UAE’s first commercial electric truck fleet

  Evocargo and RAK Ceramics deploy AI-powered autonomous vehicles, marking a new era for logistics and sustainable mobility

• October 08, 2025 08 Oct'25

  How the UAE is using AI to transform healthcare

  The UAE’s decision to appoint AI leaders in every ministry signals a shift - in healthcare, success is measured not only in cost savings, but in efficiency, sustainability, and better patient outcomes

• October 08, 2025 08 Oct'25

  AI and big data: Driving the UAE’s smart transport revolution

  From real-time passenger insights to predictive maintenance, the UAE is leveraging AI and advanced data platforms to transform mobility, enhance efficiency, and set a global benchmark in intelligent transport.

• October 07, 2025 07 Oct'25

  Middle East cloud ambitions get boost from IBM-AWS partnership

  With demand for AI, datacentres, and smart city tech rising, Riyadh Innovation Hub promises tailored solutions for the region

• September 16, 2025 16 Sep'25

  Turkish state tightens grip on comms

  Turkish subscriptions to fixed broadband were the lowest in Europe in 2024 and half as common as those in more developed countries

• September 02, 2025 02 Sep'25

  Meet the IT leader In Lebanon who became an IT entrepreneur

  Nassib Chamoun says CIOs could follow his lead in swapping IT management for life as a startup, but they must be prepared to make sacrifices

• August 29, 2025 29 Aug'25

  AI supports care of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon hospital

  Artificial intelligence pilot in Lebanon hospital aimed at freeing up time for medics to treat more Palestinian refugees

• August 15, 2025 15 Aug'25

  Autocratic UAE gets democratic artificial intelligence

  US-China rivalry has come to a head in authoritarian Gulf state UAE, where OpenAI is attempting to make a stand for democracy and free speech

• July 28, 2025 28 Jul'25

  European digital market figurehead pleads to Westminster

  Big EU industry joins with Europhile MP to persuade obstinate government officials to join the dataspaces intended to become the bedrock of Europe’s digital single market

• July 25, 2025 25 Jul'25

  Why the Middle East is winning the quantum race

  While Europe debates quantum cyber security policies, the UAE has implemented quantum-resistant algorithm requirements, offering crucial lessons for organisations preparing for the post-quantum era

• July 24, 2025 24 Jul'25

  UK loses second spot in global fintech to UAE

  The UK has been pushed into third spot on global fintech market size data for the first half of this year

• July 21, 2025 21 Jul'25

  Netherlands calls for European shift to post-tracking internet as privacy laws fail

  Dutch research institute argues decade of regulation hasn’t curbed surveillance capitalism, proposes fundamental business model change

• July 17, 2025 17 Jul'25

  Travelex replacing its software spine as part of cloud migration

  The foreign currency supplier is replacing its legacy supply chain backbone to enable its migration to the cloud

• July 16, 2025 16 Jul'25

  Meta AI training will be challenged at Europe’s highest court, says data protection chief

  The data protection commissioner for Hamburg believes Meta’s AI training should be stopped

• July 11, 2025 11 Jul'25

  ACM president Yannis Ioannidis sees a more humane role for AI

  Panel brought together academic, industry and policy leaders to discuss how AI can support climate goals, financial inclusion and infrastructure development

• June 23, 2025 23 Jun'25

  Widening Middle Eastern war increases cyber risk

  With the entry of the US into the widening Middle Eastern conflict, cyber risk is likely to increase across the board

• June 23, 2025 23 Jun'25

  Europe’s semiconductor leaders are racing to meet energy demands

  Innovative ideas are discussed at Leti Innovation Days, as datacentres swell under the weight of AI workloads

• June 20, 2025 20 Jun'25

  Dutch cloud pioneers face the hard limits of digital sovereignty

  The Netherlands’ ambitious talk of digital independence meets the unforgiving economics of global cloud dominance

• June 19, 2025 19 Jun'25

  UBS employee data leaked after cyber attack on supplier

  UBS and fellow Swiss bank Pictet have been affected by a cyber attack on a procurement service provider

• June 13, 2025 13 Jun'25

  Fusion and AI: How private sector tech is powering progress at ITER

  When commercial AI meets the world’s most ambitious science experiment, nuclear fusion, surprising things start to happen

• June 10, 2025 10 Jun'25

  Third-party security weaknesses threaten Europe’s big banks

  Security breaches via third parties increased by 25% at Europe’s largest finance firms

• May 23, 2025 23 May'25

  Data embassies and US embargo halt give Saudi AI hope

  Gulf autocracy gets access to powerful AI chips subject to export ban and pursues legal reforms to make foreign computing firms feel comfortable about putting their data there

• May 19, 2025 19 May'25

  Trump visit bolsters Saudi AI

  A new AI datacentre is among the initiatives the White House announced during the president’s Middle East visits

• May 07, 2025 07 May'25

  Europe leads shift from cyber security ‘headcount gap’ to skills-based hiring

  Research from Sans Institute reveals European organisations are leading a global shift in hiring priorities, driven by regional regulatory frameworks

• May 06, 2025 06 May'25

  EU acts to mend ailing AI competitiveness

  Lack of private investors, malformed markets and over-regulation present a big challenge for European officials trying to turn the continent into a global AI superpower

• April 24, 2025 24 Apr'25

  Saudi Arabia to be global kingpin of AI grunt work for US leader Groq

  Saudi Arabia is positioning itself to take on huge volumes of the grunt work required by the artificial intelligence sector

• April 16, 2025 16 Apr'25

  Saudi Arabia struggling to reach global leadership in deeptech

  Petrostate monarchy trying to build surrogate industry made of foreign startups because own ecosystem is too immature

• March 03, 2025 03 Mar'25

  European fintech must take different path to Trump’s US on diversity

  Leading light in women in fintech says Europe must take separate path to Trump’s US on diversity, equity and inclusion

• February 19, 2025 19 Feb'25

  European and African tech skills programme could increase economic ties

  Africa is a continent on the up, and if Europe wants to form lucrative relationships with its nations, it must have something to trade. IT skills and knowledge exchanges unlock opportunities

• February 13, 2025 13 Feb'25

  Baltic skills programme to help reduce European skills gap via Africa

  Lithuanian project sets out to connect professionals in Africa with European businesses in need of skills

• February 12, 2025 12 Feb'25

  AI at Leap 2025: Huge potential but a threat to the fabric of society?

  Thought leaders in artificial intelligence gathered at Saudi Arabia’s Leap 2025 tech show to set out the next steps for enterprise AI and agentic AI, but also AI’s potential danger to human society

• February 11, 2025 11 Feb'25

  Saudi puts $15bn into AI as experts debate next steps

  The kingdom’s Leap 2025 tech show is the backdrop for huge investment, plus debate over the future of artificial intelligence as a productivity tool but which can also potentially undermine human society

• February 04, 2025 04 Feb'25

  IT supplier helps address ‘overwhelming’ volumes of data from space

  CGI is building on its decade-long relationship with the European Space Agency, and as more and more satellites entering orbit, its role in processing data is not set to diminish

• January 07, 2025 07 Jan'25

  Saudi Arabia calls for humanitarian AI after tightening screws on rights protesters

  Oppressive state wants global digital identity system at the heart of all AI, to make it trustworthy and prevent it being used for ‘unauthorised surveillance’

• January 03, 2025 03 Jan'25

  Corporate cover-up behind world-beating cyber security record in Middle East

  Report ranking Gulf corporations ahead of US and EU counterparts for cyber security has sparked debate about the region’s tendency for secrecy and state control

• December 24, 2024 24 Dec'24

  Top 10 EMEA stories of 2024

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Europe, Middle East and Africa stories of 2024

• December 09, 2024 09 Dec'24

  Bahrain faces legal action after planting Pegasus spyware on UK blogger

  A court has given the go-ahead to UK-based blogger Yusuf Al-Jamri to seek damages from the Kingdom of Bahrain after it deployed spyware from Israel’s NSO Group to hack his phone

• November 27, 2024 27 Nov'24

  Dutch politicians raise concerns over Big Tech reliance

  Dutch political parties have warned about the Netherlands’ growing reliance on US tech giants

• November 26, 2024 26 Nov'24

  Russian threat actors poised to cripple power grid, UK warns

  UK government escalates cyber rhetoric in a speech at a Nato event, saying Russian advanced persistent threats stand ready to conduct cyber attacks that could ‘turn off the lights for millions’

• November 22, 2024 22 Nov'24

  EU promotes plan to usurp US Big Tech with digital market

  European Union is at an important point in its plan to build a single market and strengthen its cloud computing sector

• November 04, 2024 04 Nov'24

  Financiers isolate Middle East over sanctions-evading paytech

  Cross-border payment system loses support of association of global central banks

• October 29, 2024 29 Oct'24

  Tata Consultancy Services to deliver Irish pension scheme

  Indian IT services giant adds to its growing customer base in the pensions sector with Irish contract win

• October 23, 2024 23 Oct'24

  Democracy campaigner to sue Saudi Arabia over Pegasus and QuaDream spyware in UK court

  Pro-democracy campaigner Yahya Assiri given permission to file legal action in London court against Saudi Arabia over its use of Israeli spyware

• September 27, 2024 27 Sep'24

  UK on high alert over Iranian spear phishing attacks, says NCSC

  The NCSC and counterpart agencies in the US have issued a warning over enhanced Iranian spear phishing activity targeting politicians, journalists, activists and others with an interest in Middle Eastern affairs

• September 20, 2024 20 Sep'24

  UN body urges ‘globally inclusive and distributed’ AI governance

  A United Nations body set up to investigate the international governance of AI says the nature of how the technology currently operates requires a global approach to regulation that prioritises equity and inclusion

• August 28, 2024 28 Aug'24

  Telegram founder Pavel Durov questioned over cyber crime charges

  Billionaire founder of Telegram accused of failing to co-operate with law enforcement requests for lawful interception

• July 11, 2024 11 Jul'24

  Inside Israel’s cyber security operations

  An emergency phone line allows cyber security analysts at the Israel Computer Emergency Response Team to map threats against national infrastructure