The UAE and Saudi Arabia are set to add a combined two to three gigawatts of IT power capacity by 2030, according to new analysis from credit rating agency S&P. While that figure represents less than 2 per cent of global IT power capacity, it accounts for more than 80 per cent of data centre capacity across the Middle East.
In the UAE, the five-gigawatt Stargate UAE project is one of the main drivers behind the expansion. Its first one-gigawatt phase is expected to be completed within three years, developed with partners including G42, OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, Cisco and SoftBank.
In Saudi Arabia, Humain, a data centre developer backed by the Public Investment Fund, is projecting 1.9 gigawatts of capacity by 2030, rising sharply to between 6.0 and 6.6 gigawatts by 2034. building a megawatt of data centre capacity costs around 11 million dollars in the UAE and roughly 13 million dollars in Saudi Arabia. For comparison, the US and Canada are expected to account for 70 per cent of new global data centre capacity added over the next four years.
S&P analysts noted that affordable and reliable energy access is a key factor behind the Gulf's growing appeal for AI data centre investment, since regional energy prices sit well below the global average. That advantage is expected to intensify competition among Gulf states for large-scale technology projects in the years ahead, as both countries race to secure a share of the global AI infrastructure build-out.