Microsoft will construct a new Azure cloud region and data center in Saudi Arabia. This week, the company revealed plans to build a new cloud data facility in Saudi Arabia. The news was made at the Riyadh conference LEAP 2023. Microsoft stated that the new cloud region will provide enterprise-grade reliability and performance paired with data security, data retention, and high-speed latency requirements in Saudi Arabia but did not provide specifics on location, specifications, or deadlines.
In August of 2022, Microsoft inaugurated an Azure region in Doha, Qatar. An Israeli region is set to launch soon. Currently, the organization has launched one Dubai region in the UAE in 2019. Its Abu Dhabi section, which was established simultaneously with Dubai, has since been delisted and may have been transformed into a restricted access zone. Eng. Haitham bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ohali, vice minister of information and communications technology, stated that this significant step is coherent with the measures taken by the kingdom to expedite its digitalization and improve its standing as an innovation hub. In addition, the data center will give enormous potential for startups and small and medium-sized businesses seeking to increase their competitiveness and utilize the technological advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to build creative solutions.
Oracle announced this week its intention to develop a third Saudi Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) region in Riyadh. In 2020, the company opened a region in Jeddah, and it plans to open a second region in the future city of Neom. Google is establishing a cloud region in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, against the wishes of its employees, while Huawei revealed intentions to launch a cloud region in Saudi Arabia in early 2022.
