Oracle has announced the opening of its second public cloud region in Saudi Arabia to meet the rapidly growing demand for AI and cloud services, enabling public and private sector organizations to migrate all types of workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
Part of Oracle’s distributed cloud strategy and a US $1.5 billion investment to expand cloud infrastructure capabilities in the kingdom, the new Riyadh cloud region will provide organizations with access to a wide range of cloud services to modernize their applications and foster innovation with data, analytics, and AI. Center3 is the host partner for the new Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region.
The new region is expected to boost Saudi Arabia’s AI economy, projected to reach $135.2 billion by 2030. The Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region joins the existing Oracle Cloud Jeddah Region and the planned Oracle Cloud Region in NEOM, further extending Oracle’s footprint in the kingdom.
Oracle is the only hyperscaler delivering AI and a full suite of over 100 cloud services across dedicated, public, and hybrid cloud environments globally. This includes Oracle Autonomous Database, HeatWave MySQL Database Service, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, OCI Generative AI service, OCI AI Infrastructure, and OCI Supercluster.
Eng. Haytham Alohali, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, commented, “The opening of Oracle’s new cloud region in Riyadh reflects the Kingdom’s continuous efforts in boosting the digital economy based on modern technologies and innovation. This step will significantly enable international and local companies to achieve innovation and promote the adoption of AI and cloud computing technologies in various sectors, enhancing Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness regionally and internationally.”
Richard Smith, Executive Vice President and General Manager, EMEA Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle, said, “With the rapid expansion of our cloud footprint in Saudi Arabia, Oracle is committed to helping the country achieve its goal of developing one of the strongest digital economies in the world. The Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region will help accelerate the adoption of cloud and AI technologies to boost innovation across all sectors of the Saudi economy while addressing local data hosting requirements.”
The Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region, along with the existing Oracle Cloud Jeddah Region, provides customers and partners with low-latency access to cloud services, enhancing data value. Customers can leverage high availability, backup, and disaster recovery capabilities across the two regions to ensure business continuity and comply with local data hosting regulations.
OCI’s sovereign AI capabilities offer customers increased control over their data and computing infrastructure, addressing digital sovereignty requirements. OCI’s unique cloud architecture allows Oracle to launch dedicated cloud regions with hyperscale cloud services inside customer data centers and deploy public cloud regions rapidly by scaling as needed.
Fahad Alhajeri, CEO of Center3, stated, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Oracle as they expand their cloud infrastructure in Saudi Arabia with the new Riyadh cloud region. This strategic initiative supports our shared vision of fostering technological innovation and advancing the kingdom’s digital economy. Oracle’s cloud regions will enhance data sovereignty, drive digital transformation, and empower businesses across the country.”
Jyoti Lalchandani, Regional Managing Director for the Middle East, Türkiye, Africa & India at IDC, added, “Oracle’s continued expansion of its cloud footprint in Saudi Arabia is vital as companies increasingly leverage AI and GenAI capabilities. Local cloud infrastructure ensures faster data processing, enhanced security, and compliance with national regulations, facilitating efficient and effective innovation. This strategic move supports the Kingdom’s vision to use artificial intelligence to drive digital transformation and empowers companies to harness AI’s full potential, driving competitive advantage and local growth.”