Morocco targets $10 billion AI contribution to GDP by 2030

By Ahmed Eljechtimi

RABAT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Morocco is targeting a 100 billion dirhams ($10 billion) boost to its gross domestic ​product from artificial intelligence by 2030, the minister in ‌charge of digital transition said on Monday, as the country steps up its investment ‌in training programmes, sovereign data centres and cloud services.

Morocco, whose current GDP comes to around $170 billion, plans to invest in artificial intelligence centres linked to universities and the private sector, and to integrate ⁠AI solutions into public ‌administration and industry, Minister Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni told a conference in Rabat.

The GDP boost would largely ‍come from expanding domestic data‑processing capacity through sovereign data centres, scaling up cloud and fibre‑optic infrastructure, and building an AI‑skilled workforce to support the deployment ​of AI solutions across industry and government, she said.

Under the ‌plan, Morocco expects to create 50,000 AI-related jobs and train 200,000 graduates in AI skills by 2030.

As part of that effort, Seghrouchni on Monday signed a partnership agreement with France's Mistral AI to support the development of generative AI tools in Morocco.

"We want ⁠to turn Morocco into a future excellence ​hub in AI and data science," ​Seghrouchni said.

The government is also preparing legislation governing artificial intelligence, according to the minister.

Morocco has earmarked 11 billion ‍dirhams ($1.2 billion) for ⁠its digital transformation strategy for 2024–2026, covering AI initiatives and the expansion of fibre‑optic infrastructure.

It is separately planning a 500‑megawatt, ⁠renewable energy-powered data centre in the southern city of Dakhla to boost the ‌security and sovereignty of national data storage.

(Reporting by Ahmed ‌El Jechtimi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)