LEAP opens in Riyadh as AI, startups and national tech pavilions share the floor

LEAP 2026 opened in Riyadh for a four-day run, bringing together more than 1,800 technology brands, 600 startups and 1,000-plus speakers. AI has a prominent place through DeepFest, which opened with more than 100 speakers from 17 countries—a sign that the event is positioning AI as a commercial industry, not just a conference topic. Day one also showed how the exhibition has become a showroom for national tech sectors: Syria inaugurated its first national pavilion, South Korea’s AI pavilion is led by NC AI, and Pakistan’s IT minister arrived with a national delegation. HONOR demonstrated its Robot Phone live, while general-admission tickets are now $50. One caveat: published investor-program figures conflict, with counts ranging from more than 1,000 investors representing $14.3 trillion in assets to 1,289 representing $14.5 trillion.