The Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) president Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi has announced the launch of several technical infrastructure expansion projects and data centers in Riyadh. SDAIA launched these projects, the first of their kind in Saudi Arabia, at an event attended by the Director of the National Information Center Dr. Essam Al-Waqit, along with other SDAIA leaders and officials.
The new data centers boast an electrical capacity of up to 65 kilowatts per cabin. In addition, they feature highly efficient electrical and mechanical systems. The projects aim to increase the capacity and operational efficiency of data centers across Saudi Arabia. Moreover, they fall in line with SDAIA’s strategy to develop sustainable data centers built according to the best global practices and standards set by the UPTIME Institute, the global authority on data center evaluation and classification.
The authority has not yet revealed the exact number of new data centers or the total new capacity of the new projects.
Earlier this year, SDAIA reaffirmed its commitment to establish Saudi Arabia among the world’s leading economies in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), which is expected to contribute $135 billion to its GDP by 2030, or 12.4 percent of the national GDP.
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The value of the country’s data and AI economy is currently at around $4-5 billion, with an opportunity to generate additional government revenues and savings of over $10 billion by harnessing data insights to help guide government decisions.
Since the launch of the Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in unlocking the value of data as a national asset. Almost 70 of 96 percent of the vision’s goals relate to data and AI.
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