Saudi Arabia’s data center race: Can the Kingdom become the Middle East’s cloud hub?
- Saudi Arabia is investing billions in data centers to become the Middle East's leading cloud and AI infrastructure hub, leveraging the demand for AI computing.
- Since the launch of Vision 2030, investments in the data center sector have surpassed SR16 billion ($4.26 billion), with over 60 operational data centers now in the Kingdom.
- Saudi Arabia is ranked second globally in data center market attractiveness, with expectations for the sector to generate $2.83 billion in revenue by 2030.
- The Kingdom's advantages include sovereign capital for large-scale infrastructure development and its geographic position, linking Europe, Africa, and West Asia.
- Future plans include developing substantial AI infrastructure, with goals of generating 1.9 GW by 2030 and 6.6 GW by 2034, backed by around $77 billion in investments.
- The growth of Saudi Arabia's data center investments is expected to benefit various sectors, contributing to the digital economy, which currently represents 15% of its GDP.
