Oracle is scaling up its data-centre footprint across the UAE and Saudi Arabia as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates across the Gulf, the company said this week.
The US technology giant already runs cloud regions in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Riyadh, and now plans to add facilities inside Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject as part of its regional expansion.
Cormac Watters, Oracle's executive vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa applications, said the company is "growing the number of data centres we have in the UAE and Saudi," noting that roughly two new sites have come online over the past six months, with more planned for the coming half-year.
The push comes as regional instability — including Iranian attacks on Gulf infrastructure that began on February 28, 2026 — has sharpened concerns among Gulf businesses over data sovereignty. In response, Oracle has introduced a "digital embassies" concept that lets sovereign cloud infrastructure be relocated geographically while preserving its legal and operational independence.
The Middle East is now Oracle's fastest-growing subregion within its wider EMEA division, with the company also eyeing opportunities in Qatar, Kuwait and Syria.
The expansion reflects the scale of the region's AI ambitions: Gulf states including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar committed AI investment exceeding 5 per cent of GDP last year — roughly $120 billion — underscoring how central artificial intelligence infrastructure has become to the region's economic strategy, and why global cloud providers are racing to build local capacity to serve it.