Snowflake to Showcase AI Data Cloud at GITEX 2025

Tareq Masoud, the Country Manager for UAE at Snowflake, says that at GITEX Global 2025, the company will be highlighting how its AI Data Cloud is transforming experimentation into measurable business value across industries.

Tell us about your participation at GITEX 2025. How does this year’s presence differ from previous editions?
At GITEX 2025, we are shining a spotlight on how Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud helps organisations turn experimentation into real, measurable, and impactful business value. Last year, we highlighted generative AI and solutions like Native Apps, Cortex, and Snowflake Gen AI & LLM. This year, we’re taking things further, showing enterprise AI in action and how it can speed up decision-making across different industries.

We are also placing greater emphasis on supporting the regional start-up ecosystem. As sponsors of the start-up pavilion at Expand North Star, we are proud to provide entrepreneurs with a platform to showcase their innovations, connect with potential partners, and gain insights into how enterprise-grade data and AI solutions can help them scale.

Which flagship products, solutions, or innovations will you be spotlighting at the event, and what makes them relevant to today’s tech challenges?
Businesses everywhere face the same challenges: fragmented data, complex infrastructure, and the urgent need to operationalise AI securely. Snowflake emphasises that establishing a strong data foundation is the first step in addressing these challenges. At this year’s event, we are showcasing enterprise-grade technologies that make this possible, helping businesses build and deploy AI applications at scale.

Highlights include Snowflake Intelligence, an LLM-powered natural language interface for exploring structured and unstructured data, and Cortex AISQL, which brings generative AI directly into SQL for multimodal analysis. With OpenFlow, organisations can connect virtually any data source and derive value from any data architecture, while Adaptive Compute optimises efficiency by automatically managing compute resources.

Other key innovations are SnowConvert AI, which accelerates migrations from legacy platforms, and Cortex Agents, which automate machine learning tasks to let data teams focus on strategy instead of repetitive workflows. Together, these technologies help organisations move from raw data to actionable insights faster, enabling them to innovate with confidence while maintaining the highest levels of governance, security, and compliance.

How have recent shifts in regulation or data governance influenced your regional strategy?
As AI adoption accelerates, the risks have become more complex, from data privacy to algorithmic bias. An MIT Technology Review Insights study conducted with Snowflake found that 59% of respondents cite governance, privacy, and security as the top challenges in deploying AI.

Snowflake addresses this by embedding security and compliance features directly into its platform. Encryption, multi-factor authentication, role-based access controls, and compliance with global standards such as GDPR, along with local certifications like the Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), ensure data is protected and trusted. We have collaborated with major cloud providers and launched general availability on Google Cloud in KSA to meet data residency and sovereignty needs to reside within the country’s borders.

While governments define the ethical guardrails, Snowflake provides the infrastructure that allows enterprises to innovate confidently and scale responsibly.

What kind of interactive experiences can visitors expect at your booth this year?
Visitors can explore live demonstrations of real-world use cases, from banking risk engines to smart city planning. Technical deep dives and hands-on sessions will enable data professionals to test Snowflake Intelligence, Cortex AISQL, and other tools directly. We are also planning high-impact keynote sessions that focus on how data and AI can drive national digital transformation goals, showcasing Snowflake’s role in building a secure, AI-driven data economy.

Additionally, dbt Labs, Fivetran, Matillion, SBI, In516ht, SDG Group, Alteryx, and Domo will be at the Snowflake booth, demonstrating how the Snowflake Partner Network extends the value of the AI Data Cloud. Our experts will also be available for one-to-one conversations, showing how companies can turn passive data collection into insight-driven decision-making.

How does your participation at GITEX align with broader regional initiatives such as the UAE’s AI strategy, Saudi Vision 2030, or other transformation agendas? And how are you supporting talent development?
National strategies such as the UAE’s National AI Strategy 2031 and Saudi Vision 2030 place data and AI at the centre of digital transformation. Snowflake supports these priorities with infrastructure certified for compliance, scalable AI platforms, and local deployments that respect sovereignty while enabling innovation.

Through our One Million Minds + One Platform program, we aim to train one million people worldwide in data and AI by 2029, with 100,000 global certifications targeted by 2027. This includes free, live training courses led by Snowflake-certified instructors. In high-growth markets like Saudi Arabia, where PwC research shows 67% of professionals see upskilling as essential to job performance, this program contributes to building a data-ready workforce capable of driving the region’s digital economy forward.