Saudi Arabia recorded an AI spending growth rate of 124 percent year-over-year, leading enterprise technology investment trends across the region. The findings come from the 2026 Enterprise AI Maturity Index published by ServiceNow, based on research conducted with ThoughtLab across 19 countries, according to reporting by بوابة التكنولوجيا المالية.
AI spending growth and maturity scores
The study surveyed 4,500 executives and 2,000 employees across 12 sectors, including 100 executives in Saudi Arabia and 100 in the UAE. Organizations in Saudi Arabia achieved an AI maturity score of 50 out of 100, reflecting a 17 percent increase compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, enterprises in the UAE scored 48 points, marking a 13 percent increase.
Regional executives anticipate that artificial intelligence will account for nearly 20 percent of overall information technology budgets by 2027. Despite this rapid AI spending growth, researchers observed an ongoing gap between financial capital allocation and operational execution within enterprise environments.
Agentic AI adoption and operational gaps
Most enterprise deployments currently focus on individual employee productivity rather than autonomous workflows. While 48 percent of Saudi organizations and 57 percent of UAE firms implemented agentic AI tools, only 10 percent in Saudi Arabia and 7 percent in the UAE created fully autonomous operational workflows.
Moving from basic employee assistance tools to end-to-end operational automation remains a primary objective for the regional economy.
Legacy infrastructure and data hurdles
Infrastructure fragmentation presents a notable obstacle to scaling enterprise tools. Only 13 percent of Saudi organizations and 14 percent of UAE firms replaced legacy software with integrated architectures. Consequently, many businesses operate AI tools on disconnected software stacks rather than unified operational platforms.
Data readiness also poses operational challenges. In Saudi Arabia, 67 percent of executives identified data accuracy, access, and governance as barriers to enterprise scaling, compared to 77 percent in the UAE. Furthermore, formal testing and risk audit frameworks for cybersecurity and compliance exist in only 18 percent of Saudi enterprises and 16 percent of UAE organizations.
Global returns and future outlook
On a global level, high-maturity enterprises report an average return on investment of 160 percent, with projections reaching 194 percent within two years. These organizations also experience 5.6 times higher productivity and 2.7 times greater success in scaling software applications across their digital infrastructure.
As organizations sustain substantial AI spending growth, strategic priorities are shifting toward modernizing legacy IT systems, enhancing data governance, and integrating automated workflows across core enterprise operations.
