Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha () is a Saudi government minister who has served as the Minister of Communications and Information Technology since 2017. His ministry is responsible for developing Saudi Arabia's ICT infrastructure and workforce as part of the country's Vision 2030 programme. He was previously managing director of

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

Saudi Arabia.

Education

Alswaha has bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He studied as an undergraduate in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and at the

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) is a nonprofit research university in Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Founded near the earliest local oil fields as the College of Petroleum & Minerals (1963) in response to the ...

. He has since done executive education programs at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Public Service

On May 3, 2021, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz issued a Royal Decree appointing Alswaha to the post of chairman of the Saudi Space Agency. In March of the same year, he was appointed as chairman of the board of directors for the

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST; ) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a governmental organization established in 1977 as the Saudi Arabian National Center for Science & Technology (SANCST; ); in 1985, it was renamed King Abdulaziz ...

. He is also Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Chairman of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), posts he has held since April 2017.

Private Sector Career

Alswaha began his career in 2005 at

Saudi Arabia, becoming director of operations and overseeing the development of the company's systems engineering, public sector, commercial, service provider and channel operations. In May 2016, he was appointed managing director.

High Profile Participations

At the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh in October 2017, Alswaha announced a partnership between his ministry, the philanthropic organisation MiSK, and the Mohammed bin Salman College for Business and Entrepreneurship to put young local entrepreneurs and start-ups through a one-year training programme with big tech partners from the US and Europe. The same month he announced that

Saudi Post Saudi Post () is a government operated postal system in Saudi Arabia; it is generally referred to within the kingdom as "al-Bareed". It was previously part of the Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone. An efficient postal network now covers ...

, the government-operated postal system, would enter a five-year 'corporatization phase' before full privatization. He has previously affirmed Saudi Arabia's commitment to business-friendly policy and has called for greater empowerment of women in the kingdom as part of the push to modernize its economy and workforce. At the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

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in January 2018 Alswaha outlined Saudi Arabia's digital vision, announcing spending of $3 billion to roll out a nationwide 5G network and connect two million homes with high speed

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

. At the Mobile World Congress in

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, Alsawaha announced that in the framework of the

Saudi Vision 2030 Saudi Vision 2030 (, sometimes called Project 2030) is a government program launched by Saudi Arabia which aims to achieve the goal of increased diversification economically, socially, and culturally, in line with the vision of Saudi crown pri ...

, Saudi Arabia is planning to be a leading digital market in the Middle East and South Africa regions. Moreover, with the annual budget of $22 billion in the digital and IT sector, Saudi Arabia has become of the top ranked digital markets worldwide. In december 2024, Alsawaha met with

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

, CEO of Tesla and owner of the social media platform X, to enhance collaboration in the fields of space and artificial intelligence ( AI). During their discussions, they explored opportunities for cooperation, particularly in developing innovative technologies such as Open Radio Access Network (

Open RAN Open RAN, or Open Radio Access Network architecture is based on 3GPP standards for Radio Access Networks (RAN) but contains many extensions, disaggregates RAN components and makes their interfaces open, aiming to improve flexibility and interoperabi ...

) systems, which are crucial for building a flexible and sustainable digital infrastructure aligned with

. The meeting also highlighted Saudi Arabia's broader strategy to position itself as a global technology exporter, with significant investments in the technology sector and initiatives like the National Technology Development Program, which has attracted substantial venture capital funding. At the LEAP 2025 Tech Conference in Riyadh, Alsawaha represented Saudi Arabia and announced $14.9 billion worth of investments in the technological sector. He highlighted significant growth in the industry, with tech jobs in Saudi Arabia increasing from 150,000 in 2021 to 381,000 in 2024.

Primary Responsibilities

* Cabinet Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia * Ministry of Communications and Information Technology * Saudi Space Agency, Chairman * The Research, Development and Innovation Authority, Chairman * Digital Government Authority, Chairman * King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Chairman

Additional Responsibilities and Affiliations

* Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Chairman * The Research, Development and Innovation Authority, Chairman * Digital Government Authority, Chairman * Saudi Space Agency, Chairman * King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Chairman * Saudi Post, Chairman * National Committee for Digital Transformation, Chairman * Board Member, Misk Foundation * Board Member,

Neom Neom (styled NEOM; , ) is an arcology and planned city being built by Saudi Arabia in Tabuk Province. Launched in 2017 by crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, the site is at the northern tip of the Red Sea, due east of Egypt across the Gulf of A ...

* Board Member, Council of Economic and Development Affairs * Board Member, Economic Cities Authority * Board Member, World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Global Network Advisory

Previous positions

Abdullah Alswaha formerly held other positions, including member of the Technology Advisory Board at Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd University (PMU). He was also the founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Incubator, which supports entrepreneurs to develop solutions in the fields of healthcare and education.

Communications, Space and Technology Commission (Saudi Arabia) The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST; , Hai'at al-Ittisalat wa Tiqniyyat al-Ma`lumat) is a Saudi government entity with legal status and financial and administrative independence, it regulates telecommunications, Space, techno ...

* Mohammed Altamimi

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swaha, Abdullah Amer King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals alumni Communication ministers of Saudi Arabia Information ministers of Saudi Arabia Communications in Saudi Arabia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people