Bahrain
Beyon Solutions and Oracle to develop sovereign cloud in Bahrain
Beyon Group and Oracle have entered an agreement to develop a sovereign cloud solution in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The company’s Beyon Solutions division will use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s (OCI) Dedicated Region to provide sovereign cloud services to businesses and government bodies in Bahrain. Deployed at Beyon Solution’s data centres, customers will have access to OCI’s 150+ cloud services and will be secure in the knowledge that data is kept within the Kingdom’s borders – meeting security and latency requirements…Read more
UAE
UAE to invest billions in France AI data centre
France and the UAE have announced plans to build a 1GW data centre, representing an investment of US$30-50bn. This investment will not only support the data centre but also bolster AI capabilities in both countries. The announcement comes as global experts gather in Paris to debate the opportunities and challenges of AI, ahead of a summit where world leaders will discuss this rapidly advancing technology. Thousands are expected at the summit, which aims to find common ground on AI and ensure France and Europe remain credible contenders in the global AI race…Read more
Saudi Arabia
LEAP 2025 has already seen over $14.9bn of investment in AI and cloud infrastructure, and this was only Sunday’s monetary commitment!
Saudi Arabia’s annual global tech event, LEAP 2025, has already seen $14.9bn in investment deals and infrastructure partnerships from both domestic and international players. Highlights include:
- DataVolt signing a $5bn deal to develop a 1.5GW data centre campus in NEOM, with phase one having a 300MW total capacity.
- Aramco Digital investing $1.5bn in AI-chip company Groq to expand its AI-powered inference infrastructure and cloud computing capabilities.
- Tencent Cloud launching its first cloud region in the Middle East (located in Saudi Arabia) and pledging a $150mn investment into the Kingdom over the next few years.
- Equinix committing $1bn to build a 100MW AI-focused data centre.
- ALAT and Lenovo pledging $2bn to establish an advanced manufacturing and technology centre integrating robotics and AI.
- Google introducing new AI-driven digital infrastructure and launching a computing cluster to meet regional and global demand.
- Alibaba Cloud launching an AI Enablement Programme to train national talent.
- KKR, in partnership with GDH, revealing a strategic investment to develop data centres with a total capacity of up to 300MW.
- Microsoft announcing the opening of a data centre academy in the Kingdom, in partnership with the Dammam-based National Information Technology Academy.
- Multiple VC investors committing $497mn to tech startups.
- Huawei showcasing its Future Skills Centre, aiming to train 25,000 individuals in areas such as AI, cloud, and big data over the next five years
Mobily lands Africa-1 subsea cable in Duba, Saudi Arabia
Saudi telco Mobily has landed its Africa-1 subsea cable in Duba, helping to connect East Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. The cable spans more than 10,000km, with a capacity of 96Tbps across 8 fibre pairs and totals 11 landing stations. According to experts, the Africa-1 cable will provide much needed capacity to East African countries, which have been suffering from severe subsea cable capacity shortages…Read more
Aramco Digital, Armada, and Microsoft deploy AI-driven edge computing in the Kingdom
Saudi Aramco, in partnership with Microsoft and Armada, will deploy Galleon edge data centres and AI applications across its operations in Saudi Arabia. The project utilises capabilities of Microsoft Azure’s adaptive cloud within Armada’s Galleon infrastructure, providing high-performance computing at the edge of Aramco’s network. The Galleon units will act as industrial distributed cloud hubs, supporting Aramco’s broader hyperscale data centre strategy and will enhance Aramco Digital’s transformation efforts by delivering high-speed, reliable connectivity across remote and bandwidth-constrained environments…Read more
Middle East
Qareeb Data Centres and Pantheon partner for Bitcoin projects across the Middle East
Qareeb Data Centres and Pantheon have signed an MoU to roll out Bitcoin mining data centres across the Middle East. As part of the partnership, Qareeb will secure sites for the two companies to build Pantheon Bitcoin mining facilities, which will be located adjacent to Qareeb’s existing or under-development colocation facilities. By leveraging Qareeb’s “expertise in turnkey project management, site acquisition, permitting, and operations”, according to Qareeb’s CSO Annemarie van Zadellhoff, Pantheon will be supported in its expansion into the GCC, enabling the company to “establish robust infrastructure in one of the fastest-growing Bitcoin mining markets globally”, says Nick van Houtrijve, COO and founder of Pantheon…Read more