Saudi Arabia
Neom may pivot toward data centres
Reports suggest NEOM may be scaled back for its original ambition – including a 170km linear city The Line – amid cost overruns, construction delays, and weaker oil prices, and could instead be repositioned as a larger, water-cooled data centre hub on Saudi Arabia’s northeastern coast. Unamed officials to told Financial Times the project would become a ‘’far smaller’’ industrial-focused development, and NEOM has separately signalled a stronger push to attract data centre and AI investors, pointing to advantages such as land, renewables, and existing digital infrastructure, The shift would sit alongside earlier plans at Oxagon, including a February 2025 deal with DataVolt and later involvement from Humain, and it adds to a fast-growing pipeline of Saudi data centre projects under Vision 2030 (with analysts citing rapid load growth through 2030). At the same time, observers are questioning long-term viability, noting that extreme heat across many planned sites may increase cooling complexity and reinforce the need for advanced water-based or dry-cooling approaches…Read more
UAE
New MoU positions Sharjah as an emerging UAE data centre hotspot
Sharjah is accelerating its push to attract data centre investment, after the Sharjah Communications Technology Authority signed a tripartite MoU with DataCanvas International and AI Caravan to explore the development and operation of data centres and wider digital infrastructure projects in the Emirate. While no specific site, capacity or timeline has been disclosed, officials framed the partnership around building long-term capability – supporting a knowledge-based economy, attracting AI investment, and developing local talent. The announcement lands as Sharjah’s data centre ecosystem visibly builds momentum, including XDS Data Centre’s recently launched 1MW immersion-cooled facility and ongoing development with Khazna Data Centres and BEEAH Group…Read more
GCC
BlackRock: AI build-out may add near-term inflation pressure
BlackRock’s investment research team is warning that AI could add to inflationary pressure in the near term, a governments and companies pour unprecedented capital into technologies and the ‘’finite resources’’ that enable them – advanced semiconductors, electricity, and grid equipment. In the Gulf, that dynamic is colliding with a broader diversification drive, with multi-trillion-dollar capex expected across data centres, energy systems, and transport over the next decade, much of it being pulled forward by AI’s heavy-up front requirements for compute, power generation, and cooling. The region’s ambition is visible in giga-scale plans – from Saudi’s Humain targeting multi-GW capacity and major partnerships, to the UAE positioning itself as a global infrastructure hub – yet reports note a key mismatch: spend lands now, while revenues and productivity benefits arrive later. The Gulf does have structural advantages, including the ability to deploy power and grid capacity at scale and some of the world’s lowest-cost solar, but softer oil prices could be a headwind even as they increase urgency to diversify beyond hydrocarbons…Read more