Brief
Kerno and SAAL.ai sign MoU to deliver UAE‑built sovereign AI‑in‑a‑Box
The deal aims to give government and enterprise clients a complete, locally owned AI stack, from hardware to software.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Kerno, a UAE maker of enterprise‑grade IT infrastructure, and SAAL.ai, a developer of data platforms and agentic AI, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the AI Everything 2026 exhibition in Dubai.
The agreement calls for the two firms to co‑develop and deploy a "Sovereign AI‑in‑a‑Box" solution that is engineered, manufactured and supported entirely within the United Arab Emirates. The MoU was signed by Evgeny Ostrovskiy, chief revenue officer and co‑founder of Kerno, and Vikraman Poduval, chief executive officer of SAAL.ai.
According to the announcement, the integrated offering will combine Kerno’s enterprise‑class compute hardware with SAAL.ai’s specialised AI models, delivering a ready‑to‑use architecture that handles data preparation, model training and agentic AI deployment. Clients will retain full ownership of their data, models and infrastructure, allowing them to scale complex AI workloads without reliance on foreign supply chains or offshore support.
Ostrovskiy said the partnership marks a shift from adopting imported technology to creating it locally, reinforcing the UAE’s goal of self‑reliance in critical digital infrastructure.
Key facts
- Kerno and SAAL.ai signed an MoU at AI Everything 2026 in Dubai. (gulfnews.com)
- The partnership will produce a sovereign AI‑in‑a‑Box solution built and supported entirely in the UAE. (gulfnews.com)
- Evgeny Ostrovskiy and Vikraman Poduval signed the agreement on behalf of their companies. (gulfnews.com)
- The solution combines Kerno’s hardware with SAAL.ai’s AI models, giving clients full data and model ownership. (gulfnews.com)
Sources
- [1] gulfnews.com — originally reported as “Kerno and SAAL. ai unveil UAE-built Sovereign AI-in-a-Box”
