UAE’s tech sector has this ‘hunger’ for data centers and Khazna is out to meet that

UAE’s tech sector has this ‘hunger’ for data centers and Khazna is out to meet that

Dubai: A market share of an awe-inducing 75-80 per cent should be enough to satisfy any CEO’s craving for sheer dominance. Not for Hassan Alnaqabi. The CEO of Abu Dhabi’s Khazna Data Center is as voracious to get more as the industry he is in – data storage. “In the past three years, the demand for data storage soared because of the many hyper-scalers and cloud companies coming into the country,” said Alnaqabi. “Starting now, the government is accelerating its need for data with digital economies and ‘smart city’ programmes picking up really well. Khazna Data Center sure is prepping up, with new facilities being constructed to add to the ones it already operates. It has brought all of the data centres operated by G42, the Abu Dhabi headquartered investment group, and that of e& (formerly Etisalat) under its fold. That adds to the heft Khazna already carries. (G42 and e& are Khazna’s shareholders as well, holding 60- and 40 per cent, respectively.) Data storage is showing all signs of becoming one of the pillars driving the UAE and Gulf’s technology sector in the medium-term. In the local market, apart from Khazna, there are some international names operating, while Hussain