How JetBrains is shaping the era of intelligent, agentic software development

Mikhail Vink, VP of Business Development at JetBrains

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape how software is designed, tested, and deployed, few companies are as deeply embedded in the evolution of developer productivity as JetBrains. Known for creating intelligent development environments used by millions worldwide, the company is using GITEX Global 2025 to highlight its next chapter: one where AI is not just an assistant but an active collaborator in the software development process.

“We’ve been on the market for 25 years, and JetBrains is known specifically for IDEs and intelligent tools,” said Mikhail Vink, VP of business development at JetBrains. “In 2025, we need to be looking into AI. We released the AI Assistant a few years ago — the first stage of AI capabilities in the IDE. Now, we’re moving into the next level: the agentic experience.”

That next level is represented by Junie, JetBrains’ new general-purpose AI agent for software development. “In addition to the AI systems which you control, there is also the agent you control but that has an agency of performing some actions on your behalf,” Vink explained. “That is the area JetBrains is investing a lot in, and we are showcasing that today.”

The combination of intelligent assistants and autonomous agents, he said, reflects the company’s long-term philosophy: augmenting human developers with technology that enhances—not replaces—their creativity.

Integrating AI across the ecosystem

JetBrains’ approach to AI is both collaborative and inclusive. While the company has built its own AI capabilities such as the JetBrains AI Assistant and Junie, it also integrates with external AI systems. “We work with third-party vendors like GitHub and Microsoft on Copilot, and with vendors like Google on Cloud Code,” Vink said. “We see that we need to integrate all of the tools from the market so that developers use what they are accustomed to.”

But beyond integration, JetBrains is also tackling a critical issue in AI-driven coding: maintaining code quality. “This area becomes much more important right now in the age of AI because you have a lot of code generated by AI,” Vink noted. “Our tools can tell you if your AI is generating you something wrong, because the IDE can see when the code quality or security is not up to the standards. AI systems generate a lot of code but almost never tell you to remove old code. The IDE does.”

By combining deterministic algorithms, those that enforce static code analysis and quality checks, with AI’s generative capabilities, JetBrains aims to create a balanced workflow where human oversight and machine intelligence coexist productively.

Building a stronger presence in the Middle East

JetBrains’ participation at GITEX this year marks a milestone in its expansion strategy across the Middle East. Over the past year, the company has moved from market presence to market investment, establishing an on-ground team and strengthening regional partnerships.

“Starting last year, we started investing into the region more and more,” Vink said. “We see the possibilities and the amount of developers here. There are companies, unicorns, and startups emerging in the UAE, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in the region. Last year at GITEX, we had a very small booth, around nine square meters. This year, we have an 80-square-meter booth and more than 20 people here from Europe. We are growing the region because we see a lot of potential and developers love our tools.”

Adding to that, Nadia Rynskaya, head of MENA GTM at JetBrains, emphasised the company’s focus on developing a full ecosystem of support — not just for enterprises, but also for startups, universities, and students.

“We do have a team on the ground,” Rynskaya said. “For large B2B enterprises, we provide local technical solutions and support. For small businesses and startups, we just partnered with Igynite (Dubai’s global startup ecosystem) to give 6 months of our products for free, and subsequently 50 per cent off all products for the following 5 years; we’re also becoming a strategic partner of DMCC. For all startups under DMCC, we’ll offer special terms. We’re also partnering with universities to ensure students get access to free licensing.”

Her comments underscore JetBrains’ strategy to invest in the broader developer ecosystem — nurturing innovation from classroom to enterprise. “We’re working not just with large enterprises but with the community overall,” Rynskaya added. “You’ll see us involved in hackathons and many other regional initiatives this and next year.”

From IDEs to full lifecycle collaboration

JetBrains’ product suite has long expanded beyond the classic IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) that made it famous. Today, the company provides an integrated portfolio covering every stage of the software lifecycle — from build to deployment.

“Going beyond the IDEs, which are personal tools, we have quite a lot of solutions that support the entire software development lifecycle,” Vink said. “We have TeamCity, which is a CI/CD tool — it builds all the products. Then there’s YouTrack, which is project management, and Qodana, which focuses on code quality.”

What differentiates JetBrains’ ecosystem, he explained, is that these tools can be deployed flexibly — either in the cloud or on-premises for security-sensitive organizations. “They can be installed in private networks or private clouds, and they help developers understand what is happening on the meta level, outside of the IDE. It gives a comprehensive overview to engineering management and team leads,” he said.

These tools now include built-in AI enhancements, providing analytics and code quality insights that help teams stay aligned, efficient, and secure. “It’s about helping teams analyse what is happening, improve quality, and identify issues before they impact production,” he added.

The next frontier: growth, autonomy, and innovation

Looking ahead, JetBrains sees enormous opportunity in the Middle East’s developer ecosystem — one it believes is entering a rapid growth phase similar to what Europe and the US experienced over the last decade.

“We see that this is one of the major regions where we have more and more developers,” Vink said. “Europe and the US have huge companies, but the next place for those unicorns and powerful startups is here — the UAE, the wider MENA, and Asia. The region is really accelerating.”

He added that this acceleration is visible on the ground at events like GITEX. “Talking to customers and prospective customers here, even on the first morning of the conference, we see a lot happening. Companies that were two-person startups last year now have a few hundred developers. They’re coming from all over the Middle East, building solutions that millions of people will use.”

This growth has encouraged JetBrains to continue scaling locally, while maintaining the independence that has long defined the company.

JetBrains remains one of the few global software companies that is entirely founder-owned and self-funded — a rare status in today’s venture-driven tech world.

“For the founders, the company was originally bootstrapped 25 years ago,” Vink said. “It was profitable from the first year because they solved a problem enterprises had — Java refactoring — and created the first tool for it. From that, they just bootstrapped everything.”

He confirmed that while there are no current plans to raise external capital or go public, the decision is rooted in maintaining creative freedom. “There is really no need because the company is profitable, growing, and known worldwide. Of course, things may change in the future, but with external funding or going public, you lose some control.”

That independence, he explained, allows JetBrains to make long-term bets — like investing in the creation of Kotlin, now one of the world’s most popular programming languages and Google’s official choice for Android development. “It is very difficult to develop your own programming language when you have a public-company mentality,” he said. “You’d have investors asking why you’re spending so much on something like that. The company wants to innovate and have the freedom to do things that move the industry forward.”

As the software industry enters the next wave of AI adoption, JetBrains is positioning itself at the intersection of developer productivity, trust, and innovation. Its tools — now increasingly AI-driven — remain built around a simple philosophy: empowering developers to focus on creativity and problem-solving while the systems handle complexity.

From launching AI agents like Junie to nurturing a new generation of coders in the UAE, the company’s presence at GITEX 2025 signals more than product launches — it reflects an ongoing commitment to shaping how software will be built in an AI-first world.