UAE and Saudi Arabia to Lead 80% of Gulf Data Center Growth

Gulf Cooperation Council nations are rapidly emerging as a premier global hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia leading the regional expansion. According to a new study by S&P Global Ratings, data center capacity across the GCC is projected to nearly triple, exceeding 3 gigawatts by the end of 2030.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia alone are expected to drive more than 80 percent of this regional capacity growth, adding between 2 and 3 gigawatts of IT power. This rapid expansion is underpinned by comprehensive national AI development blueprints, burgeoning regional demand for sovereign cloud hosting, and substantial state-backed capital allocations into digital infrastructure.

Key mega-developments include Abu Dhabi's 5 GW UAE-US AI Campus, which incorporates the Stargate UAE initiative and aims to deliver its initial 1 GW phase over the next three years. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Public Investment Fund-backed enterprise HUMAIN plans to develop 1.9 GW of capacity by 2030, with future targets scaling beyond 6 GW over the next decade.

Despite abundant capital and low power tariffs, the rapid buildout faces major engineering and cooling challenges. In Saudi Arabia, the planned capacity for the HUMAIN initiative could require around 17 terawatt-hours of power annually, representing roughly 6 percent of national electricity demand. In the UAE, data center power usage is expected to more than double over the same period.

To balance soaring power and water consumption, both countries are piloting cutting-edge cooling systems. The UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has joined forces with Khazna Data Centers to test AI-optimized cooling algorithms and liquid-cooled data facilities in Ajman, while Saudi institutions are actively deploying specialized geothermal cooling frameworks.