GITEX Ai Türkiye debuts in Istanbul as Türkiye pushes to become a global AI hub

# What happened

GITEX Ai Türkiye launched at the Istanbul Expo Centre, convening technology companies, investors, startups and policymakers. The event runs through 10 September and presents a mix of enterprise exhibitions, a startup hall, investor meetings and conference sessions across AI, cloud, data centres, cybersecurity, fintech and intelligent infrastructure.

# Scale and attendance

# Türkiye's AI Action Plan in focus

The event coincides with Türkiye fast-tracking its 2026–2030 AI Action Plan. Three headline targets mentioned at the opening were:

• 1GW of data centre capacity.
• US$10 billion of private sector investment for AI infrastructure.
• Training five million AI-literate citizens within two years.

Speakers framed those goals as part of a broader effort to grow local capabilities, attract inbound investment and enable Turkish companies to scale internationally.

# Infrastructure and vendor activity

Infrastructure and compute dominated many exhibitor pitches. Dell framed hybrid and multi-cloud architectures as ways to integrate cloud, edge and on-premises systems while simplifying operations for customers. Huawei highlighted its local cloud footprint in Türkiye, noting a three-availability-zone architecture and a disaster recovery centre in Ankara opened in 2024. Huawei also cited global data centre capacity growth as context for the demand shift toward model training and inference.

# Startup visibility and partnerships

The startup hall featured Turkish and regional founders. A strategic Memorandum of Understanding between GITEX and Terminal Istanbul was announced on opening day. That MoU will give Terminal Istanbul a presence across GITEX events globally and aims to create more routes for Turkish startups to reach international investors and technology partners. Terminal Istanbul is redeveloping the former Atatürk Airport terminals into a large innovation and entrepreneurship hub.

# Who organised and why it matters

The event is hosted by the Investment and Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye (Invest in Türkiye) in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and organised by inD. Organisers positioned GITEX Ai Türkiye as a platform to connect technology, talent and capital and to present Türkiye as a regional technology market with access to large nearby populations and economies.

# Concrete implications

• Developers and enterprise buyers can expect more local cloud and data-centre options as international vendors expand infrastructure in Türkiye.
• Investors at the show represent substantial capital that could flow into Turkish AI startups if promising scale-up opportunities appear.
• MoU provides a concrete channel for startups to gain exposure at future GITEX events worldwide.

# Bottom line

GITEX Ai Türkiye brought international vendors, investors and local players together at a moment when Türkiye is sharply scaling AI infrastructure targets, workforce training and efforts to attract private capital. The show combined product demonstrations and commercial pitches with government-backed goals for rapid AI capacity building and workforce development.