Saudi Arabia Reinforces Its Position as Global Hub for Data and AI

Saudi Arabia reinforces its position as global hub for data and AI

Saudi Arabia emerged as one among the world's top 10 countries for private AI investment, according to the latest World Bank report.

The Gulf’s AI boom is driving the race to control the data highways

The Gulf’s AI ambitions are spurring governments and telecom giants to invest in building out the cables, fiber networks and data centers that will determine who controls the region’s increasingly valuable flows of data.

Saudi data center capacity projected to boom, but financing a challenge

Saudi Arabia’s data center capacity is forecast to reach 1 gigawatt by 2030, making it the fastest-growing Gulf market in a sector awash in cash and FOMO. The pipeline of announced projects is larger still — PIF’s HUMAIN alone is targeting more than 6 GW in the coming decade. Financing even half of that will require up to $32 billion in debt, more than the kingdom’s banks are likely to be willing to assemble themselves, according to a report fro…

Saudi data centre ambitions could require $42bn by 2030

Securing long-term customers a priority Multiple financing sources needed Contracts are biggest hurdle Saudi Arabia’s AI and cloud expansion by 2030 would require up to $42 billion in project capital, including $32 billion of debt, if around half of its announced data centre capacity is delivered, according to Alvarez & Marsal. Kurt Davis Jr, head of debt and capital advisory for the Middle East and Africa at Alvarez & Marsal, said the greater c…

AI boom pushes data centres away from Europe’s major hubs

Europe’s next generation of hyperscale data centres will be located almost four times further from established hubs than projects delivered over the past three years.  That’s according to new research from JLL, which found that hyperscale campuses planned between 2026 and 2028 will be located an average of 175km from major EMEA hub cities, compared with just 46km for projects delivered between 2022 and 2025.  The shift comes as developers attemp…

Data center markets are booming in these EMEA countries

Data center construction in Europe and the Middle East is forging ahead, with the region accounting for five of the ten fastest-scaling global data center markets.According to new research from Savills, the US is – unsurprisingly – the biggest market in terms of capacity, at around 50GW of live IT power, and has grown by 19% since 2024.China comes next in terms of existing capacity, with Japan, the UK, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands also …