{"id":3157,"date":"2025-01-23T15:34:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T12:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/?p=3157"},"modified":"2025-01-23T15:34:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T12:34:32","slug":"weekly-news-blast-23rd-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/weekly-news-blast-23rd-january-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly News Blast – 23rd January 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to the GDCA Weekly News Blast! Check out the latest industry news from the GCC region below. Have any Middle East data centres news you\u2019d like to share? Email yours to imogen@gulfdca.com<\/a> with NEWS<\/strong> in the subject line.<\/div>\n
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Industry News<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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UAE<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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KKR invests in Gulf Data Hub<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Under its Global Infrastructure strategy, the investment firm KKR has outlined plans to invest in the UAE-based operator Gulf Data Hub (GDH). GDH has an owned portfolio of 7 data centres in the UAE and KSA, with additional facilities planned for the rest of the GCC, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco. This is KKR\u2019s first data centre investment in the Middle East, totalling more than $5bn of investment into GDH, to bolster GDH\u2019s position and fuel its international growth strategies\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Abu Dhabi to become the world\u2019s first fully AI-native government by 2027<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Abu Dhabi government has unveiled its \u2018Abu Dhabi Government Digital Strategy 2025-2027,\u2019 which aims to accelerate the Emirate\u2019s transformation into an AI-powered government. The initiative seeks to position Abu Dhabi as a global leader in AI-driven government services by establishing a robust digital infrastructure and creating a flexible, scalable foundation. Key goals include achieving 100% adoption of sovereign cloud computing for government operations and digitising\/automating all government processes. AED13bn will be allocated to the strategy over the 2025-2027 period, with an expected return of AED24bn to Abu Dhabi\u2019s GDP by 2027, along with the creation of more than 5,000 new job opportunities\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"Saudi Arabia<\/b><\/h2>\n

Armada to deploy containerised data centre pods for Newlab in Riyadh<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Armada, a containerised edge data centre firm, is to deploy two pods at sites operated by the startup platform Newlab in Detroit and Riyadh. The deal will see an Armada Galleon containerised data centre deployment at Newlab\u2019s regional innovation hub in Detroit, later deploying in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Last year, Armada partnered with the Middle Eastern data centre engineering consulting and cloud firm Edarat Group to deploy 10 Galleons across the GCC and Middle East\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia to invest $20bn on digital infrastructure<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

At the recent World Economic Forum, the Minister of Commerce announced Saudi Arabia\u2019s plans to invest $20bn over the next five years to develop its digital infrastructure, aimed at boosting the services sector. The Kingdom has already invested $25bn in the past five years to prepare for automation. In 2023, Saudi Arabia\u2019s services sector was valued at $144bn, growing at an annual rate of 7%. The Minister emphasised the country\u2019s Vision 2030 goals and highlighted the establishment of new government agencies, such as the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, to enhance the business and investment landscape\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Qatar<\/b><\/h1>\n

MEEZA expands its data centre footprint in Doha<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Qatar-based data centre operator MEEZA has announced the expansion of its data centre capacity by 4MW as part of its strategic move to meet the growing demand for digital infrastructure in the country. This expansion will allow MEEZA to meet the rapidly growing demands for AI, cloud, data security, and high-performance computing in Qatar and regionally. MEEZA also signed a Shariah-compliant facility with Dukhan Bank for $37.15mn to support this expansion\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Welcome to the GDCA Weekly News Blast! Check out the latest industry news from the GCC region below. Have any Middle East data centres news you\u2019d like to share? Email yours to imogen@gulfdca.com with NEWS in the subject line. Industry News UAE KKR invests in Gulf Data Hub Under its Global Infrastructure strategy, the investment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-news-blast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3158,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions\/3158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}