Saudi Arabia unveils new initiatives to build hyper-scale data centers

Saudi Arabia unveils new initiatives to build hyper-scale data centers

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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has launched four new cooperative initiatives to build and develop hyper-scale data centers across the Kingdom.

The announcement is part of the Ministry’s Saudi Vision 2030 multi-phase plan to transform the Kingdom from a factor-based to an innovation-driven digital economy by leveraging eco-friendly and renewable energy generation projects that are currently underway across the kingdom.

This transformation is enabled by the development of hyper-scale data centers, which are considered necessary to accelerate digital transformation, increase adoption of emerging technologies, increase digital investments, and propel Saudi Arabia’s emergence as a leading cloud services hub.

The Ministry worked closely with a group of local and international companies to structure the right business principles for the buildout and operation, in line with the ambition of this multi-phased plan to accelerate the development of hyper-scale data centers. The estimated capacity will be 1300 Megawatts and will leverage sustainable renewable energy generation and an expected investment of around $18 billion.

The four new initiatives are structured in cooperation with Malaz Financial Company, Dawiyat Integrated Telecommunications and Information Technology Company, Quantum Switch Tamasuk and Alfanar Group, and follow an earlier announcement made by the Ministry and bring the total number