LEAP 2026: CNTXT CEO Abdullah Jarwan on turning AI compute into capability
Jarwan talks about the “conversion layer” between infrastructure and value, why AI sovereignty is a ‘team sport’, and what it takes to move AI from the screen to the shop floor
03 September, 2026
TT
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Saudi Arabia is building the engine of an AI economy at extraordinary speed but, as Abdullah Jarwan puts it, the industry “talks too much about the size of the engine and not enough about where the car is going.” The CEO of CNTXT, the technology company born as a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Norway’s Cognite, has spent the past few years positioning his firm squarely in that gap: the distance between having world-class AI infrastructure and having AI actually working inside a bank, an industrial plant or a government body.
Now describing itself as an “AI-first” company and serving as Google Cloud’s exclusive reseller in Saudi Arabia, CNTXT operates in what Jarwan calls the “conversion layer”, turning compute capacity into capability, and capability into economic value. It’s a role that spans systems integration, data governance, sovereign controls that keep data and support inside the kingdom, and homegrown products such as inSafe, an AI-driven industrial-safety platform now used by more than 30,000 workers across large Saudi industrial sites.
At LEAP 2026 in Riyadh, where CNTXT is a Diamond Sponsor, Jarwan makes that case in person. Here, he talks to Gulf Business about why “AI-first” has to mean more than a slogan, how he positions the company against the hyperscalers building directly in the kingdom, where enterprise appetite for AI agents is real versus hyped, and why he believes true sovereignty means engaging with the world “from a position of capability, choice and control” — not walling the kingdom off from it.
CNTXT began as an Aramco–Cognite joint venture and now describes itself as an “AI-first” company. What prompted that shift?
I would describe it less as a shift and more as an evolution.
CNTXT was created around a fundamental idea: data becomes valuable when you give it context. That principle has not changed. What has changed dramatically is what technology can now do with that context.
Cloud gave enterprises the ability to scale. Modern data platforms gave them the ability to connect information. AI now gives them the ability to understand, predict and act on it. So becoming AI-first was the natural next step for CNTXT.
But “AI-first” can easily become a slogan. For us, it means something very practical. We start with the business problem, the data and the operating context, then determine where AI can create measurable value. Sometimes that means predictive intelligence. Sometimes automation. Sometimes it means giving a worker better information before a critical decision.
For us, that AI-first approach has two complementary dimensions. First, through our professional services capabilities, we act as an AI-first systems integrator, helping enterprises build the right foundations, connect and govern their data, integrate technologies, and move AI from experimentation into production.
Second, through domain-driven product development, we apply AI to specific operational challenges. inSafe is a good example: it combines digital controls with AI-driven intelligence for industrial safety, helping organisations move from documenting what happened to identifying risk before work begins.
That is ultimately where I believe enterprise AI is heading: away from AI as a separate technology initiative and toward intelligence embedded into how organisations actually operate.
As Google Cloud’s exclusive reseller in the kingdom, how do you position CNTXT against the hyperscalers building directly in Saudi Arabia?
I see the continued investment by AWS, Microsoft and other global technology companies in Saudi Arabia as a positive development. It reflects the scale of the opportunity in the kingdom and gives Saudi organisations greater access to world-class technology.
We are also seeing customers increasingly think beyond a single-cloud model. At the enterprise level, cloud decisions are increasingly workload-driven, so we expect multiple platforms to coexist as organisations choose the right environment for different requirements.
Google Cloud remains particularly well positioned as enterprises accelerate their data and AI agendas. Its capabilities in data, analytics and AI are increasingly relevant as the conversation moves beyond cloud infrastructure toward how organisations can use their data and put AI to work at scale.
For CNTXT, this evolution reinforces our role. Our value has never been limited to providing access to cloud infrastructure. We help organisations build secure foundations, modernise applications, connect and govern their data, deploy AI, navigate Saudi regulatory and sovereignty requirements, and turn technology into measurable business outcomes. As the technology landscape becomes more sophisticated, that integration capability becomes even more important.
We remain very proud of our relationship with Google Cloud and the capabilities we have built around it in Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, more cloud investment means more capability for the kingdom. The real opportunity is turning that technology into enterprise value.
Your Sovereign Controls offering keeps data and support inside the kingdom. How much of your client demand is now driven by sovereignty requirements?
Sovereignty has moved from being a specialist requirement to becoming part of the architecture conversation for almost every major organisation we work with.
But I think the definition of sovereignty is becoming more sophisticated.
It is not simply asking, “Where is my data stored?” Organisations increasingly want to understand who can access it, who operates the environment, how encryption and access are controlled, where support is delivered, how workloads are governed and whether they retain meaningful control as the technology evolves.
This becomes even more important with AI because AI introduces new questions around models, data, intellectual property, access and decision-making.
For Saudi Arabia, sovereignty therefore should not mean disconnecting from global technology. It should mean using world-class technology while maintaining control over the assets and capabilities that matter strategically.
That is an important distinction. Sovereignty without innovation risks isolation. Innovation without sufficient control can create dependency. The opportunity for Saudi Arabia is to build a model that combines the two.
Where are you seeing real enterprise appetite for AI agents in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf?
There is significant interest, but I think it is important to distinguish interest from production readiness.
The first phase of generative AI was largely about interacting with AI: asking questions, generating content and accessing knowledge. The next phase is about allowing AI to participate more actively in enterprise workflows, whether that means retrieving information, coordinating tasks, recommending actions or automating defined processes.
That has enormous potential. But as AI becomes more capable of acting rather than simply answering, context, governance and accountability become much more important.
An AI system operating inside an enterprise needs to understand what information it can access, what actions it can take, where human approval is required and when it must escalate. The important question therefore becomes not only “How intelligent is the AI?” but “How responsibly can we put that intelligence to work?”
We see the greatest potential where organisations have complex, data-rich workflows and where better or faster decisions can create measurable value.
Ultimately, I do not think success will be measured by how many AI agents an organisation deploys. It will be measured by how effectively AI improves the way the organisation works.
HUMAIN and others are pouring billions into compute and data centres. Where does CNTXT add value in that crowded landscape?
Compute is essential, but compute by itself does not transform an enterprise.
Saudi Arabia is making an extraordinary investment in the infrastructure required for the AI economy. Our role is to help enterprises adopt that infrastructure effectively and orchestrate data, applications and workloads across the environments they operate in, creating the secure, governed foundations needed to put AI into production.
The opportunity now is to connect that infrastructure to real enterprise needs and turn capacity into productivity, safer operations, better services and new economic value.
That is where CNTXT adds value.
There is a significant distance between having access to world-class AI infrastructure and having AI working reliably inside a bank, an industrial facility, a government entity or a healthcare organisation. You need secure cloud foundations. You need usable and governed data. You need integration with existing systems. You need domain understanding, regulatory controls and people who understand how the organisation actually operates.
I sometimes think the industry talks too much about the size of the engine and not enough about where the car is going.
Saudi Arabia does not ultimately capture the full value of AI simply by building compute capacity. It does so by converting that capacity into capability, and capability into economic and societal value.
CNTXT operates in that conversion layer: connecting infrastructure, data, AI and enterprise context to solve real problems.
Read: LEAP 2026: Five tech leaders unpack Saudi Arabia’s evolving AI ecosystem
CNTXT is a Diamond Sponsor at LEAP 2026. What did you showcase there, and what does the event signal about the kingdom’s AI momentum?
LEAP is interesting because it reflects how quickly the technology conversation in Saudi Arabia is evolving.
A few years ago, much of the discussion was about digital transformation and cloud adoption. Today, the questions are more ambitious: How do we deploy AI at enterprise scale? How do we maintain sovereignty? How do we build Saudi capabilities and intellectual property? And, importantly, how do we turn all this investment into measurable outcomes?
At CNTXT, we want to make that conversation tangible.
We will showcase how secure cloud foundations, modern data and AI capabilities, and Saudi-built technology can come together in real operating environments. One example I am particularly proud of is inSafe, our industrial safety platform.
It is used by more than 30,000 users across large-scale Saudi industrial environments and combines operational controls with AI-driven intelligence to help organisations identify risks earlier and execute work more safely.
That, to me, is where AI becomes genuinely exciting.
The real test for AI is not whether it can produce an impressive answer on a screen. It is whether it can improve a decision in an industrial facility, help protect a worker, make an institution more productive or solve a problem that matters.
LEAP demonstrates that Saudi Arabia is increasingly moving from discussing the potential of AI to asking how we put it to work.
You’ve called AI sovereignty a “team sport” rather than a go-it-alone project. What does that look like in practice for Saudi Arabia?
It means being very clear about what Saudi Arabia must control, what we should build domestically and where partnership makes us stronger.
There is sometimes a misconception that sovereignty means building every capability in isolation. I think that can weaken sovereignty.
No country controls the entire AI stack. Semiconductors, infrastructure, models, energy, data, software, research and talent are distributed across an increasingly interconnected global ecosystem. Trying to replicate every layer domestically would be enormously expensive and, more importantly, could slow innovation.
Saudi Arabia has an opportunity to pursue a more intelligent model: build and own strategic capabilities at home, develop Saudi talent and intellectual property, maintain control over critical data and infrastructure, and partner with leading organisations globally where collaboration accelerates our progress.
This is why I called sovereignty a team sport.
Saudi Arabia also has an advantage that is sometimes underestimated: alignment. Vision 2030 has given government, industry, investors, universities and technology companies a remarkably clear direction of travel. In a technology cycle moving as quickly as AI, the ability to coordinate capital, infrastructure, policy and talent around a common objective is enormously powerful.
The countries that succeed in AI will not necessarily be those that try to own everything. They will be those that understand what they must control, know where they need partners, and build the domestic talent capable of connecting the two.
Sovereignty is not independence from the world. It is the ability to engage with the world from a position of capability, choice and control.
