Middle East's AI ecosystem capable of serving 3 billion people, says report  

The Middle East is emerging as a critical hub for AI data centre development, benefiting from its structural and geographical merits, amid rising demand for AI infrastructure. 

The region’s strategic location offers a vantage point, placing it within a 2,000-mile radius of over three billion people, enabling it to serve Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Global South, with non-latency-sensitive AI inferencing at scale, according to a Boston Consulting Group report. 

Data centre power needs are forecasted to rise from 86 GW in 2025 to 198 GW by 2030, placing the Middle East at the forefront of supplying scalable, cost-efficient AI compute capacity. 

The Middle East’s competitive cost structures, including up to 50% lower leasing rates, low power tariffs, and advanced cooling systems, pare ownership costs. At the same time, economies such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to press ahead with new data centre launches. 

“The Middle East is undergoing a pivotal transformation as it positions itself to become a global hub for AI infrastructure,” said Thibault Werlé, managing director at Boston Consulting Group.

“With strategic investments, progressive digital policies, and ambitious national visions across Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, the region is building the foundation for scalable, next-generation AI compute.” 

Regional economies have undertaken major initiatives to bolster their efforts in reshaping the Middle East’s AI infrastructure landscape. 

Saudi Arabia has launched Humain, a Public Investment Fund company with a targeted 1.9 GW AI data centre capacity, along with partnerships with tech giants including Nvidia and AWS, to develop multi-hundred-megawatt AI campuses. 

Neighbouring UAE plans to host a 5GW AI campus in its capital under the US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership and is importing 500,000 GPUs for regional and US partners, supported by Microsoft’s USD $15.2 billion investment in AI and cloud infrastructure. 

The Qatar Investment Authority has invested heavily in advancing the country’s AI ambitions, including a $3 billion platform with Blue Owl Capital to accelerate international expansion of AI and cloud infrastructure. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has also participated in Anthropic’s $13 billion funding round, aimed at meeting growing demand from enterprises.  

Regional governments must create streamlined, unified investment packages that integrate key inputs such as land, power, water, and connectivity within clear, time-bound frameworks, the report suggested.

“Expanding a diverse ecosystem of business and financing models, including hyperscalers, GPU-as-a-Service providers, equity platforms, and bond-backed investments, will be critical to enabling flexibility for market entrants,” the report added.