Market Overview
| Study Period | 2019 - 2030 |
|---|---|
| Base Year For Estimation | 2024 |
| Forecast Data Period | 2025 - 2030 |
| Market Size (2025) | USD 232.10 Billion |
| Market Size (2030) | USD 364.33 Billion |
| Growth Rate (2025 - 2030) | 9.40% CAGR |
| Market Concentration | Medium |
Major Players
*Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order Image © Mordor Intelligence. Reuse requires attribution under CC BY 4.0. |
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Middle East And Africa IT Services Market Analysis by Mordor Intelligence
The Middle East and Africa IT services market stands at USD 232.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 364.33 billion by 2030, translating into a 9.40% CAGR over the forecast period. Accelerated government-backed digitization programs, sovereign-wealth-fund technology mandates, and widespread 5G coverage are reshaping enterprise IT spending patterns across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and key African economies. Rising cloud adoption, surging hyperscale data-center investments, and a region-wide fintech boom are intensifying demand for consultative, implementation, and managed-service offerings. Meanwhile, chronic shortages of bilingual cloud-native professionals and fragmented cross-border data laws temper growth prospects, prompting providers to refine delivery models and compliance strategies. Competitive dynamics remain balanced as global integrators leverage scale and technology depth while regional specialists capitalize on localization requirements and Arabic language capabilities.
Key Report Takeaways
- By service type, IT outsourcing led with 35.21% of the Middle East and Africa IT services market share in 2024, whereas cloud and platform services are advancing at an 11% CAGR through 2030.
- By enterprise size, large enterprises commanded 68.11% of the Middle East and Africa IT services market size in 2024, while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are set to expand at a 10.5% CAGR to 2030.
- By end-user vertical, the government and public sector captured 27.08% revenue share of the Middle East and Africa IT services market in 2024; healthcare and life sciences represent the fastest-growing vertical at 11.1% CAGR over 2025-2030.
- By deployment model, onshore delivery held a 50.1% of the Middle East and Africa IT services market share in 2024, while offshore delivery exhibits the highest projected CAGR at 10.7% through 2030.
- By country, Saudi Arabia accounted for 28.61% of the Middle East and Africa IT services market share in 2024, whereas Qatar is forecast to record an 11.2% CAGR to 2030.
Middle East And Africa IT Services Market Trends and Insights
Drivers Impact Analysis
| Driver | (~) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud-first initiatives under Vision 2030 programs | +2.1% | GCC core, spillover to Egypt and Morocco | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Surge in hyperscale data-center investments across GCC | +1.8% | Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar primary; regional connectivity benefits | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Digital public-services and e-government spending | +1.5% | Global MEA, with concentration in GCC and North Africa | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Regional fintech boom driving managed-services demand | +1.3% | GCC primary, Nigeria and South Africa secondary | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| AI and generative-AI mandates by sovereign wealth funds | +1.7% | Saudi Arabia, UAE dominant; Qatar emerging | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| 5G and edge-computing rollout fuelling integration projects | +1.0% | GCC advanced deployment, Africa selective urban rollout | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| Source: Mordor Intelligence | |||
Cloud-First Mandates Under National Visions
Saudi Arabia’s digital-government policy targets 90% cloud migration of public services by 2030, backed by USD 24.8 billion in infrastructure funding and nationwide 5G coverage. Comparable agendas in the UAE and Qatar require extensive integration, cybersecurity, and managed-service support, shifting demand from legacy outsourcing toward cloud-native delivery. Private enterprises mirror these public-sector benchmarks to sustain competitive parity, driving sustained uptake of hybrid-cloud consulting and platform services.
Surge in Hyperscale Data-Center Build-Outs
Saudi Arabia’s USD 21 billion data-center pipeline and a USD 30 billion regional AI-infrastructure alliance anchored by Microsoft, BlackRock, and Temasek are transforming local hosting economics. [1]Datacenters.com, “Temasek, Microsoft, and BlackRock's $30B AI Infrastructure Alliance,” datacenters.com Newly available in-region capacity satisfies data-residency statutes, supports latency-sensitive workloads, and enables edge-computing use cases that command higher service margins than traditional colocation offerings.
Digital Public-Services Spending
Saudi Arabia climbed from 52nd to 31st in the UN digital-government index after intensive investment in AI-enabled citizen services. GCC countries post an 81% public-approval rating for digital services, encouraging deeper automation and analytics projects. Parallel initiatives in Egypt and Kenya, such as national digital-ID systems, necessitate long-term systems integration and managed service contracts.
Fintech-Led Managed-Services Uptake
Saudi Arabia aims for 525 fintech firms and 18,000 sector jobs by 2030, with digital-wallet users soaring from 315,000 in 2018 to 17 million in 2022. Stricter anti-money-laundering rules following the UAE’s FATF delisting push banks and fintechs toward managed security and compliance-monitoring services, expanding the addressable market for specialized providers.
Restraints Impact Analysis
| Restraint | (~) % Impact on CAGR Forecast | Geographic Relevance | Impact Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronic shortage of bilingual cloud-native talent | -1.4% | GCC primary impact, Africa secondary | Long term (≥ 4 years) |
| Fragmented cross-border data-flow regulations | -0.9% | Global MEA, particularly affecting multinational service delivery | Medium term (2-4 years) |
| High energy cost and unreliable grids in parts of Africa | -0.8% | Sub-Saharan Africa primary, North Africa selective | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Geopolitical volatility affecting outsourcing contracts | -0.6% | Regional conflicts in Sudan, Yemen; broader Middle East tensions | Short term (≤ 2 years) |
| Source: Mordor Intelligence | |||
Bilingual Cloud-Native Talent Shortage
South Africa ranks third worldwide for outbound IT-talent recruitment, and 2% of all posted roles are international, draining local capacity. GCC projects intensify shortages by requiring Arabic-English fluent professionals, forcing providers to rely on expatriate hires or distributed offshore teams that increase delivery costs and timelines.
Fragmented Cross-Border Data Laws
Saudi Arabia’s 2024 data-localization rules mandate in-country storage for most personal data, while UAE free-zone frameworks and East African regulations impose distinct compliance obligations. [2]Morgan Lewis, “The Evolving Framework of Data Governance: A Global Perspective,” morganlewis.com Maintaining multiple sovereign-cloud environments raises capital expense and diminishes scale benefits for multinational service providers.
Segment Analysis
By Service Type: Cloud Platforms Drive Transformation
The segment accounted for 35.21% of the Middle East and Africa IT services market share in 2024, yet cloud and platform services are set to grow at 11% CAGR, reflecting enterprises’ pivot toward AI-ready architectures. Traditional outsourcing retains relevance for legacy workloads but faces pricing pressure as cloud-native offerings mature. The Middle East and Africa IT services market size attributed to managed security services is expanding as cyber-risk escalates across critical infrastructure. Regional hyperscale expansions by AWS, Microsoft, and Oracle allow providers to layer value-added services such as real-time analytics and IoT orchestration, displacing low-margin infrastructure support.
Demand for consulting and implementation remains robust as enterprises re-platform core applications and re-architect networks for edge-computing use cases. Business-process outsourcing maintains steady public-sector demand for document-management and citizen-service functions. Providers that bundle consulting, migration, and long-term managed services create sticky client relationships, mitigating commoditization risk.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
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By Enterprise Size: SME Digitization Accelerates
Large enterprises represented 68.11% of 2024 spend, but SMEs are forecast to post a 10.5% CAGR, buoyed by subsidized cloud vouchers and technical-support schemes across GCC economies. Government funds worth USD 40 billion are earmarked for SME digital-enablement, lower entry barriers to ERP, CRM, and e-commerce platforms. The Middle East and Africa IT services market size for standardized SaaS onboarding is therefore rising sharply.
Large enterprises continue to award multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts for AI, predictive maintenance, and multi-cloud governance projects. However, price sensitivity has increased, prompting outcome-based contracts. Providers that segment delivery teams for high-touch enterprise projects and automated SME engagements optimize utilization and margin.
By End-User Vertical: Healthcare Digitization Leads Growth
Government and public-sector agencies captured 27.08% share in 2024 as states race to enhance citizen services. Healthcare and life-sciences are set to grow at 11.1% CAGR, driven by national electronic-health-record mandates and telemedicine scale-ups across the GCC. The Middle East and Africa IT services market size linked to clinical-system integration is expanding alongside AI-assisted diagnostics pilots.
BFSI spending remains resilient thanks to real-time payment platforms and open-banking API rollouts. Manufacturing, energy, and utilities deploy IoT and analytics to boost efficiency, while telecom operators invest in AI-enabled network optimization. Retail, logistics, and transport verticals embrace omnichannel commerce and smart-city logistics, sustaining demand for edge analytics and cloud integration.
Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase
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By Deployment Model: Offshore Gains Despite Localization
Onshore delivery held 50.1% revenue in 2024, but offshore delivery should post a 10.7% CAGR through 2030 as talent shortages and cost pressures intensify. Hybrid deployments that keep sensitive workloads in-country while leveraging offshore development for non-regulated components balance compliance with efficiency, maintaining momentum for flexible engagement models.
Nearshore hubs such as Egypt combine Arabic language, GMT+2 time-zone alignment, and cost advantages, attracting GCC contracts. Providers that invest in secure connectivity, automated DevSecOps pipelines, and sovereign-cloud tenancy can navigate localization rules while capitalizing on distributed talent pools.
Geography Analysis
Saudi Arabia held 28.61% of the Middle East and Africa IT services market share in 2024, reflecting Vision 2030’s USD 100 billion technology spend. Qatar’s 11.2% CAGR outlook stems from a USD 2.4 billion AI incentive program and rapid data-center rollouts. GCC economies collectively contributed nearly 70% of 2024 spend, powered by robust fiscal surpluses that fund AI, cybersecurity, and cloud investments. Saudi Arabia’s achievement of 99% internet penetration and national 5G coverage underpins premium-priced integration and analytics contracts. The UAE aligns digital-government, cybersecurity, and talent-visa reforms to attract global providers, while Qatar positions itself as a boutique AI hub through liberal data-sharing laws that comply with U.S. and EU frameworks.
North African markets led by Egypt and Morocco benefit from nearshore appeal, multilingual talent, and extensive submarine-cable connectivity. Egypt’s new-capital technology parks and incentives for export-oriented service centers fuel offshore growth. Morocco targets 25% 5G population coverage by 2025, opening opportunities for network-integration and managed-service engagements. Algeria and Tunisia trail in spend but register steady demand for security and basic cloud migration.
Sub-Saharan Africa presents a bifurcated landscape. South Africa’s mature ICT ecosystem drives higher-value consulting and managed-security projects, offset by talent outflow. Nigeria leverages fintech momentum to adopt cloud platforms, although unreliable power grids and foreign-exchange constraints inflate operational costs for providers. Kenya’s “Silicon Savannah” status accelerates API-based banking and e-commerce rollouts, yet rural connectivity gaps persist. The AfCFTA Digital-Trade Protocol aims to harmonize regulatory frameworks, but implementation lags, prolonging compliance complexity.
Competitive Landscape
The market shows moderate concentration as the top five vendors together hold roughly 45% revenue, leaving room for agile regional specialists. Global integrators such as Accenture, IBM and Oracle tap local sovereign-cloud zones and invest in Arabic language AI models to satisfy data-sovereignty rules. Microsoft’s Kuwait Azure region deal and IBM’s 70% Saudi-national AI workforce exemplify localization strategies.
Regional champions, e.g., Gulf Business Machines, STC Solutions, and e& leverage cultural proximity and public-sector track records to win large government contracts. e&’s acquisitions of PPF Telecom Group and GlassHouse add SAP and cloud depth, enhancing its multi-cloud managed-service portfolio. [3]e&, “e& delivers record revenue and net profit in FY 2024,” eand.com STC’s purchase of Giza Systems expands its presence in Egypt and Africa, underscoring a consolidation trend. [4]Freshfields, “Solutions by STC acquires majority stake in Egypt’s Giza Systems,” freshfields.com
Disruptors include Egyptian nearshore specialists and niche cybersecurity firms targeting Islamic-finance compliance. Sustainable competitive advantage increasingly hinges on proprietary AI accelerators, sovereign-cloud certifications, and workforce-localization ratios. Vendors that combine these assets with outcome-linked pricing stand to capture higher wallet share as clients prioritize measurable return on IT spending.
Middle East And Africa IT Services Industry Leaders
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Accenture plc
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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
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Oracle Corporation
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Microsoft Corporation
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Amazon Web Services, Inc.
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
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Recent Industry Developments
- March 2025: Microsoft and the Kuwait government agreed to create an AI-enabled Azure region, aligning with Kuwait Vision 2035.
- March 2025: Baker McKenzie Cairo advised Maseera Holding on its USD 1 billion acquisition by 2PointZero to build an AI-powered financial services platform.
- February 2025: e& reported AED 59.2 billion (USD 16.1 billion) FY 2024 revenue and expanded to 38 countries after buying PPF Telecom Group and GlassHouse.
- February 2025: IBM raised Saudi-national staffing at its USD 200 million Riyadh Software Lab to 70% alignment with Vision 2030.
- January 2025: Konecta and Egypt’s ITIDA signed a USD 100 million MoU for a Gen-AI center creating nearly 3,000 jobs.
Middle East And Africa IT Services Market Report Scope
The Middle East and Africa IT services leverage technology and business expertise to help organizations create, manage, and optimize information and business processes.
The Middle East and Africa IT Services Market is segmented by Type (IT Consulting & Implementation, IT Outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing), End-user (Manufacturing, Government, BFSI, Healthcare, Retail & Consumer Goods, Logistics), and Country (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Rest of MEA).
The market sizes and forecasts are provided in terms of value (USD million) for all the above segments.
By Service Type
| IT Consulting and Implementation |
| IT Outsourcing (ITO) |
| Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) |
| Managed Security Services |
| Cloud and Platform Services |
By End-User Enterprise Size
| Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) |
| Large Enterprises |
By End-User Vertical
| BFSI |
| Manufacturing |
| Government and Public Sector |
| Healthcare and Life-Sciences |
| Retail and Consumer Goods |
| Telecom and Media |
| Logistics and Transport |
| Energy and Utilities |
| Other End-User Verticals |
By Deployment Model
| Onshore Delivery |
| Nearshore Delivery |
| Offshore Delivery |
By Country
| Middle East | Saudi Arabia |
| United Arab Emirates | |
| Qatar | |
| Kuwait | |
| Oman | |
| Bahrain | |
| Rest of Middle East | |
| Africa | South Africa |
| Egypt | |
| Nigeria | |
| Kenya | |
| Morocco | |
| Rest of Africa |
| By Service Type | IT Consulting and Implementation | |
| IT Outsourcing (ITO) | ||
| Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) | ||
| Managed Security Services | ||
| Cloud and Platform Services | ||
| By End-User Enterprise Size | Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) | |
| Large Enterprises | ||
| By End-User Vertical | BFSI | |
| Manufacturing | ||
| Government and Public Sector | ||
| Healthcare and Life-Sciences | ||
| Retail and Consumer Goods | ||
| Telecom and Media | ||
| Logistics and Transport | ||
| Energy and Utilities | ||
| Other End-User Verticals | ||
| By Deployment Model | Onshore Delivery | |
| Nearshore Delivery | ||
| Offshore Delivery | ||
| By Country | Middle East | Saudi Arabia |
| United Arab Emirates | ||
| Qatar | ||
| Kuwait | ||
| Oman | ||
| Bahrain | ||
| Rest of Middle East | ||
| Africa | South Africa | |
| Egypt | ||
| Nigeria | ||
| Kenya | ||
| Morocco | ||
| Rest of Africa | ||
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Key Questions Answered in the Report
What is the current value of the Middle East and Africa IT services market?
The market is valued at USD 232.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 364.33 billion by 2030.
Which service type is expanding fastest in the region?
Cloud and platform services are forecast to grow at an 11% CAGR through 2030 as organizations shift to AI-ready cloud architectures.
Why are SMEs important to regional IT-services growth?
Government subsidy programs and cloud vouchers are driving a 10.5% CAGR for SME IT-services spending, broadening the customer base beyond large enterprises.
How do data-localization laws affect service providers?
Providers must maintain in-country data-residency solutions and navigate divergent regulations, which raises compliance costs and favors firms with sovereign-cloud capabilities.
Which country is expected to grow fastest?
Qatar is on track for an 11.2% CAGR through 2030, supported by a USD 2.4 billion AI incentive program and liberal data-sharing regulations.
What drives demand for managed security services?
Stricter cybersecurity laws and rapid fintech expansion across GCC and key African markets are increasing the need for continuous threat monitoring and compliance management.
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