01
Arabic first
We do not translate a product after building it. We start from the language, direction, voice, and type, then build around them.
The company
A company, a classroom, a workbench.
Tarek Hoteit, Ph.D.Founder of Arabtronics
Arabtronics is an independent technology company for the Arab markets founded by Tarek Hoteit, Ph.D.
$ whoami
arabtronics — an independent technology company
$ pwd
/lebanon — working locally and remotely
$ cat focus.txt
arabic · hardware · teaching · research
I have been writing software for more than forty years, twenty of them professionally. Whether coding, publishing, or writing generally, my primary language was English. Most of my career was spent in the United States, serving an English-speaking market, which made Arabic with computers and phones nearly absent except when required.
I am Arab and Lebanese. My primary language should be Arabic. Yet my life has been deep in technology and in the United States, all of it English by default. My parents bought me a Commodore VIC-20 when I was seven, and I have been hooked on computers ever since. I even grew to despise typing in Arabic as a child, because everything I used with computers was in English. Now, in my fifties, I fear that Arabic is declining quickly as technology advances.
I founded Arabtronics to dig into the roots of Arabic and computers, hardware and software, and to build products and tools that serve the Arab community. The market is full of AI models that “support” Arabic and academic research that is mostly theoretical. Applications that treat Arabic as a first-class language — not an educational subject — are few. And building devices and interacting with them, from keyboards to microcontrollers, is still primarily English.
I am not promising to save the language, and I do not know whether this work has an audience. But I know that very few attempts have brought hardware into Arabic solutions, and that people who work seriously on something worthwhile tend to find others who share the goal. That is what I am building on.
01Background
Two decades before Arabtronics
20+
years in AI & ICT
Ph.D.
management & technology
Fortune 500
enterprises & startups
Few → 100s
team sizes led
I moved to the United States in 2001 and later founded INFOCOMET LLC, a technology consultancy in the US Pacific Northwest. Across two decades I led software and AI work with teams ranging from a few people to hundreds around the world, at Fortune 500 companies and startups alike: embedding AI into existing products, building communication platforms, detecting fraud through data intelligence, and bridging human intuition with machine learning. My academic and research background spans management and technology, computer science, AI, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, and information retrieval.
02Principles
What we build on
02
Hardware and software
Language lives under the user’s fingers. Half the solution is software; the other half is physical.
03
Teach in public
We publish what we know and document what we fail at. Knowledge kept private does not serve the community.
04
Free is part of the model
The schools program is not marketing. Paid work funds the work that does not pay.
03Feedback
What colleagues say
A few words from colleagues and collaborators I have worked with, from my INFOCOMET years and beyond.
“Tarek brings an infectious passion and intensity to all of his responsibilities. Tarek is committed to achieving market-changing capabilities through the pragmatic and actionable use of cutting-edge technology, especially in artificial intelligence and machine learning. He led some groundbreaking efforts.”
“Tarek is one of the finest technology leaders I have worked with. Tarek’s passion for technology is contagious (in a good way). It was Tarek’s vision that led to the transformation of a legacy application to a state-of-the-art and modern web portal. Also, it was his leadership and customer-centric vision that helped our product take a leap into the world of mobile platforms. Tarek’s “Customer First” approach was key to fixing many long-term pestering bugs and thereby enhancing the business value of the product. Tarek is a fantastic mentor and has an aura of energy around him when he is discussing technology with our team.”
“Tarek is one of the most creative people that I worked with in my career. His ability to mold technology in order to build solutions that solve real-world problems is uncanny. A unique combination of dedication, passion and intelligence makes him a rare commodity in the generic technology-buzz-ridden leaders market that we find ourselves dwelling in these days. He is a rare gem that I have seen grow from raw to seasoned in record time, and he will always have a place in my organization — not that I think he will ever need to look for a job.”
“Tarek brings a unique combination of hands-on technical and research skills, business acumen and commercial focus. Tarek’s infectious energy for building products and getting things done is an asset to any organization.”
“Tarek never failed to amaze me. Tarek’s passion for technology and innovation is unparalleled by anyone in the workforce. He is always informed on the latest technologies and constantly broadening his knowledge base. He dedicates everything to work, then goes home, takes care of his family, and is still publishing papers and learning new software. Tarek pushed for innovative projects for interns, allowing us to see the potential of technology at our office. He gave me advice, challenged me, and always saw the next step, even when I didn’t.”
Open channel
Let’s build something in Arabic.
Whether you are an institution, a school, or a researcher, there is a way to work with us. Start with a short message.
Write to us
info@arabtronics.com — Opens your email client.