Mohamed Zouari, the General Manager for Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Snowflake, says the emergence of AI-driven data strategies presents unparalleled opportunities in 2025

How did the industry and your company fare in 2024, and what were the key highlights?
2024 was a transformative year for the data and cloud industry, driven by the increasing importance of artificial intelligence and analytics. Snowflake stood at the forefront of this transformation, delivering groundbreaking advancements that empower enterprises to harness the full potential of data and AI.

One of the most significant milestones was the introduction of Snowflake Cortex AI, which enables enterprises to build conversational solutions, run large language model (LLM) pipelines, and train models securely at scale. Additionally, innovations such as the Snowflake Open Catalog, which supports open lakehouse architectures, and Document AI, designed to extract actionable insights from unstructured data like PDFs, highlight our commitment to driving efficiency and intelligence across workflows.

Snowflake also launched Secure Model Sharing, facilitating the distribution and monetization of AI models, and the Internal Marketplace, which allows teams to collaborate securely on data, AI models, and applications within their organizations. Another major highlight was the general availability of Snowflake Unistore, which enables customers to use Hybrid Tables to unify transactional and analytical data, offering them a modern and secure platform for innovation.

In 2024, Snowflake reported product revenue of $900.3 million in the third quarter, reflecting a 29% year-over-year increase. The net revenue retention rate stood at 127%, indicating robust customer expansion. Snowflake now has 542 customers with trailing 12-month product revenue greater than $1 million, representing 25% year-over-year growth. Additionally, the company serves 754 Forbes Global 2000 customers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year.

What opportunities do you foresee for 2025, and how do you plan to leverage them?
The emergence of AI-driven data strategies presents unparalleled opportunities in 2025. Organizations will focus on leveraging practical AI applications to accelerate decision-making, optimize productivity, and unlock new growth avenues. For Snowflake, AI adoption is not just about enabling technology, but also about creating value across industries. We see significant potential in markets like Saudi Arabia, where national transformation initiatives prioritize digital innovation. Our platform’s ability to support regulatory compliance, AI observability, and seamless collaboration across ecosystems positions us to drive impact in these ambitious initiatives.

What major challenges did you encounter in 2024, and how did you address them?
One of the industry’s greatest challenges in 2024 was navigating the evolving regulatory landscape and ensuring data reliability amidst the AI revolution. At Snowflake, we addressed this by doubling down on data governance solutions and expanding our AI observability capabilities to help enterprises build trust in AI outputs.

Additionally, the rise in privacy concerns around AI models underscored the need for robust safeguards. By integrating advanced security features and fostering collaboration with regulators and industry stakeholders, we reinforced our commitment to ethical and reliable AI innovation.

Which emerging technologies will be in high demand in 2025, and why?
In 2025, AI observability will move from a niche topic to a critical enterprise requirement, enabling organizations to trust, refine, and scale their AI implementations. We also anticipate rapid adoption of agentic systems, AI-powered applications capable of autonomous decision-making within human-defined guardrails.
Moreover, semantic layers for data platforms will redefine how enterprises contextualize and analyse data, unlocking deeper insights without reinventing semantic concepts for each application. These advancements align with Snowflake’s mission to empower businesses with actionable intelligence.

What will be your primary focus areas and strategic priorities for 2025?
Snowflake will focus on accelerating innovation, advancing AI-driven capabilities, and ensuring data sovereignty for our customers. Expanding our global footprint, particularly in high-growth regions like the Middle East, remains a key priority. Supporting customers with localized infrastructure, enhanced regulatory compliance, and tailored solutions will drive our strategy.

Additionally, we’ll continue investing in tools like Apache Iceberg tables and Unistore to empower organizations with flexible data architecture, enabling them to seamlessly manage both structured and unstructured data.

Are there plans to explore new markets or introduce new products/applications to your portfolio in 2025?
Snowflake is actively exploring new geographies and verticals to further extend our reach and impact. Building on the success of 2024, we are committed to introducing additional tools that complement our existing portfolio and help businesses meet their needs. With initiatives like our expansion to Saudi Arabia, Snowflake is poised to support national digital agendas while simultaneously enabling businesses to achieve global scalability with a single, integrated platform.