Global AI Leaders to Headline LEAP 2026 as Riyadh Marks the Year of Artificial Intelligence

As Saudi Arabia marks 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence, LEAP 2026 will bring together the world's leading AI companies, investors and innovators in Riyadh for four days of announcements, partnerships and industry-defining discussions, reinforcing the Kingdom's position at the forefront of the global AI economy.

The event will welcome a concentration of technology leaders from the companies building the infrastructure powering the next generation of artificial intelligence. Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of AMD, and Tareq Amin, Chief Executive Officer of HUMAIN, will be joined by Matthew Zielinski, Executive Vice President of International Markets at Lenovo, and Nick Law, Creative Chairperson of Accenture Song. The programme will also feature senior leaders from EY, PwC, Qualcomm, Luma AI and other organisations shaping the future of AI and emerging technologies.

The designation of 2026 as the Year of Artificial Intelligence reflects the Kingdom's rapidly advancing AI ecosystem, with Saudi organisations now outperforming their global peers in investment scale, technology maturity and confidence in realising AI value. More than three quarters expect AI to deliver return on investment at scale within twelve months, the highest level of any region.

"Saudi Arabia has rapidly established itself as one of the world's most exciting technology markets," said Mike Champion, CEO of Tahaluf and Co-creator of LEAP. "The calibre of leaders joining LEAP this year reflects that transformation. Riyadh has become a place where the world's biggest technology companies come together not only to discuss the future of AI, but to build it through collaboration, investment and real-world applications."

At the heart of LEAP 2026, Tech Arena will again serve as the event's flagship stage for breakthrough innovation, with a focus on AI in action. Rather than simply discussing future possibilities, it will showcase working technologies through live demonstrations, functional prototypes and inventor-led sessions. Across its sessions, 93% will feature a live demonstration, working prototype or inventor-led conversation, up from 62% in 2025.

Aadeel Akhtar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PSYONIC, will demonstrate the company's AI-powered prosthetic hand, which reads muscle signals and adapts to its wearer in real time. Andreas Forsland, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cognixion, will present Axon-R, a non-invasive brain-computer interface that combines EEG, augmented reality and AI to translate neural signals into action.

Also launching this year within Tech Arena is the Inventor Fireside Chat series, giving attendees direct access to the engineers and scientists behind today's breakthroughs. Featured speakers include Koichi Wakata, astronaut and Chief Technology Officer at Axiom Space, and Mike Pell, one of the creators of the PDF at Adobe.

Mazen Baroudi, EY MENA CTO, said: "LEAP brings together the full AI ecosystem, from chipmakers and cloud providers to frontier model developers and organizations deploying AI at scale, offering a unique perspective on how the technology is reshaping industries. It also highlights Saudi Arabia's growing role in the global AI landscape, as the Kingdom fosters innovation, develops locally relevant solutions, and accelerates sustainable economic transformation."

Registration for LEAP is open at onegiantleap.com.