UAE’s DAMAC Boosts Investment in Saudi Data Centers

UAE’s DAMAC Boosts Investment in Saudi Data Centers

Hussain Sajwani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of DAMAC, said that the group’s investment in data centers in Saudi Arabia came after an extensive study of the Saudi market, which offered many promising investment opportunities within the framework of Vision 2030.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Sajwani pointed to the Kingdom’s developed infrastructure, which allows quick access to undersea cable systems, making it one of the most connected countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council on both the local and international levels.

“Saudi Arabia’s national fiber optic network provides terrestrial connectivity to all major Gulf markets, and is a gateway to the main regional submarine cable unloading stations,” he said.

Sajwani noted that the idea of investing in data centers in general dates back to 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“After I conducted many consultations with specialized analysts and the work team, we began to develop plans and strategies for investing in data centers… In 2021, we obtained a piece of land in Dammam and began establishing a data center there,” he recounted.

Regarding DAMAC’s future plans, the chairman said that the group was seeking to establish two data centers in Dammam and Riyadh with a total capacity of 35 megawatts.

“We have already started