Oracle among AI firms forging ahead with Gulf expansion
Despite a more expensive build-out in the region, rising demand for compute is still drawing developers.
Major US artificial intelligence companies are expanding their presence in the Gulf region, despite heightened risks to digital infrastructure, according to The National. Oracle, a leading player in the AI sector, intends to construct additional data centers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to accommodate escalating demand.
Scale AI, a company with a 49% ownership stake from Meta, has established a new office in Dubai International Financial Center, collaborating with a G42 unit to create AI agents through this partnership.
In Saudi Arabia, New York-based Snowflake has announced plans to invest $300 million in the kingdom by 2030, in collaboration with customers such as dairy giant Almarai and a PIF-backed developer, Red Sea Global. The company's leadership is spearheaded by Sridhar Ramaswamy, who has outlined intentions for constructing two more cloud computing regions in the country. Additionally, the company aims to provide AI training to thousands of Saudis, under the guidance of former Google Ads chief Sridhar Ramaswamy.
While data center construction has not significantly impacted the Gulf economies thus far, according to Bloomberg economist Ziad Daoud, the Iran war has made building this infrastructure more expensive and risky. Daoud estimates that enhanced security measures add 5% to 7% to construction costs. Despite these challenges, there appears to be a willingness among major AI firms to absorb the additional expense.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
