Dr. Sultan Almasoud, managing partner of Morgan Lewis’s Riyadh office, has been closely involved in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s rapid evolution into a global hub for innovation. His insights on the questions below shed light on the trends reshaping technology and esports—and the opportunities they unlock for investors and operators entering the market.
Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis
TECHNOLOGY TRANSACTIONS, OUTSOURCING, AND COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS NEWS FOR LAWYERS AND SOURCING PROFESSIONALS
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have rapidly transformed into two of the most dynamic technology markets in the world. Driven by ambitious national strategies—Dubai’s digital-first initiatives and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030—both countries are positioning themselves as regional leaders in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fintech, cloud computing, and smart infrastructure. Despite extraordinary public-sector investment and momentum, the path to sustained innovation and commercialization is shaped by a mix of high-value opportunities and structural challenges.
Morgan Lewis’s technology, outsourcing, and commercial contract team, along with Boston Consulting Group, recently hosted a roundtable dinner in London, during which senior stakeholders from technology suppliers and large businesses discussed how the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting offshoring and outsourcing.
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published on November 18, 2025 a list of 19 critical information and communications technology (ICT) third-party providers (CTPP) that will be subject to direct oversight under the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). The list includes hyperscale cloud providers, data center providers, infrastructure and network providers, and providers of financial services-specific technology.
The leveraging of outsourcing engagements to implement and support digital transformation solutions is emerging as the foundation for the next generation of outsourcing. Digital transformation is a critical part of many companies’ strategic roadmap, seen as creating key opportunities for cost savings, efficiency, productivity and quality improvements, enhanced customer experience, and competitive advantages, including through state-of-the-art automation and data analytics. Many companies do not have the internal resources or skill sets to implement digital transformation at the required pace. This is leading to companies “leaning in” on their outsourcing providers to identify, design, and enable digital transformation solutions in a secure and compliant manner.
Digital transformation continues to be a buzzword for 2025, with companies considering or implementing new user-facing and back-office artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and other digital tools to enhance end-user experience (UX), business operations, IT infrastructure and resilience, and data flow and connectivity between devices and environments. These digital transformation projects often require project-based resources with specific skill sets that may not be readily available within a company to meet the desired implementation timelines. As a result, many companies engage third-party providers to design, build, test, and/or implement their digital transformation strategies.