du and Microsoft launch $544M AI data centre in UAE
UAE’s AI market is expected to hit $46.33B by 2030, powered by new data infrastructure.
Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (du) has partnered with Microsoft to build a 2 billion dirham (US$544.5 million) hyperscale data centre in the UAE, unveiled during Dubai AI Week.
Microsoft will be the facility’s primary tenant, and the project will be delivered in phases. This marks du’s sixth data centre, reinforcing the UAE’s growing status as a regional AI and data infrastructure hub.
The partnership aligns with the UAE’s National Strategy for AI 2031, which aims to generate US$96 billion in economic value by 2030.
Hyperscale data centres like this one are expected to form the backbone of the country’s AI ecosystem, which is projected to reach a value of US$46.33 billion by the same year.
The GCC data centre market is booming, with expected growth from US$3.48 billion in 2024 to US$9.49 billion by 2030. du’s move comes amid a regional race between cloud giants like Google, AWS, and Oracle, as well as local providers including Khazna, Equinix, and Gulf Data Hub.
Sustainability is also a growing focus, with new builds like Khazna’s Ajman facility incorporating energy-efficient cooling for high-performance AI workloads.
As AI-driven transformation accelerates across logistics, finance, and smart cities, the UAE is using these strategic partnerships and infrastructure investments to move from a resource-based economy to a data-driven one.
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