{"id":3749,"date":"2025-07-17T11:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T08:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/?p=3749"},"modified":"2025-07-17T11:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T08:12:17","slug":"weekly-news-blast-17th-july-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/weekly-news-blast-17th-july-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly News Blast – 17th July 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

Bahrain<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

National Bank of Bahrain launches a data centre<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has launched a new Tier III-certified data centre at its headquarters, marking the culmination of an 18-month initiative to modernise the bank\u2019s infrastructure. Certified by the Uptime Institute, the facility reflects NBB\u2019s ongoing investment in building long-term resilience. The project involved the modernisation of legacy systems, carried out over eight phased migration activities. It also supports NBB\u2019s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, and \u2018\u2019represents NBB\u2019s continued investment in infrastructure that delivers long-term resilience,\u201d commented NBB Group Chief Executive Usman Ahmed. NBB states it is the only bank in Bahrain currently operating a Tier III-certified data centre\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

UAE<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Khazna teams up with Eni for a 500MW data centre campus in Italy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Khazna Data Centers and Italian energy giant Eni have signed a Heads of Terms agreement to jointly develop a 500MW AI data centre campus in Ferrera Erbognone, Lombardy. Combining Khazna\u2019s hyperscale expertise with Eni\u2019s innovative \u201cBlue Power\u201d low-carbon energy solution, the project marks Italy\u2019s first integration of decarbonised power with data infrastructure. The venture, backed by high-level officials from the UAE and Italy, is a strategic step in a larger plan aiming for 1GW of IT capacity in Italy. This initiative underscores the UAE-Italy commitment to AI, energy transition, and digital infrastructure, positioning Khazna as a key player in Europe\u2019s tech landscape\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

XDS and ICS Arabia ink 15-year deal for 10MW data centres in Saudi Arabia<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

UAE-based XDS Data Centres has signed a 15-year agreement with Saudi firm ICS Arabia to develop two 10MW immersion-cooled data centres in Riyadh and Jeddah, scheduled for completion by June 2026. Part of ICS Arabia\u2019s Desert Dragon Data Centres initiative, the facilities will support high-density AI and hyperscale workloads with cutting-edge immersion cooling technology. XDS CEO Ghufran Hamid highlighted the partnership as a major step in the company\u2019s regional expansion, positioning Saudi Arabia as a key growth market. The move aligns with the Kingdom\u2019s broader digital infrastructure push, including major initiatives by PIF-backed AI firm Humain and a $5.3Bn AWS cloud investment\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

PIF expected to invest in xAI<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is reportedly preparing to take a significant role in an upcoming fundraising round for Elon Musk\u2019s AI firm xAI, potentially valuing the company at $200 billion. Already an indirect investor through Kingdom Holding\u2019s $800 million stake, PIF is expected to participate directly as xAI seeks new capital starting next month, according to the Financial Times<\/em>. This would mark xAI\u2019s third funding round in under two months, following $10 billion raised in July and a $300 million share sale in June. xAI\u2019s flagship product is Grok, the AI chatbot integrated with X (formerly Twitter), which xAI acquired earlier this year in a $45 billion deal\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Middle East<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Huawei pitching AI chips to Gulf and Southeast Asia<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Huawei is reportedly exploring exports of its AI chips to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, offering its older Ascend 910B processors to potential buyers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand, markets currently dominated by NVIDIA. While no deals have been confirmed, Huawei is also promoting remote access to its more advanced 910C-powered CloudMatrix 384 system, though those chips remain reserved for domestic use due to limited supply. This move comes as part of China\u2019s broader push for semiconductor self-sufficiency amid escalating US export restrictions, with Huawei seeking to carve out a niche in global AI markets despite mounting geopolitical and regulatory challenges\u2026Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 Bahrain National Bank of Bahrain launches a data centre The National Bank of Bahrain<\/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-3749","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\/3749","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=3749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3751,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions\/3751"}],"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=3749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulfdca.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}