AI Infrastructure Boom Drives Data Center World's Middle East Debut

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the Gulf is drawing some of the world's biggest technology companies, data centre operators and policymakers to Abu Dhabi, as the region positions itself as a new global hub for digital capacity.

Against that backdrop, Data Center World, a four-decade-old international conference focused on data centre infrastructure, will stage its first Middle East edition in the UAE capital on November 17-18. The event comes amid a surge in regional investment driven by AI adoption, cloud computing growth and rising data consumption.

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According to technology research firm Omdia, the Middle East added 1GW of new IT capacity in 2025, with regional data centre capacity growing at nearly 25% annually, underscoring the scale of expansion underway.

The conference will bring together government officials, hyperscalers and infrastructure providers, including the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Investment, Khazna Data Centers, Core42, AWS, Google, Oracle and NVIDIA.

The AI-driven buildout is creating new challenges around power availability and efficiency, particularly in a region where extreme temperatures make cooling one of the industry's biggest operational concerns.

“Every megawatt saved in cooling is a megawatt of compute the grid does not have to build for,” said Eng. Mozah Alnuaimi, Chief AI Officer at the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.“In our climate, water efficiency and energy efficiency are the same discipline.” She said the ministry views data centres as“a national efficiency opportunity, not only a load”.

Energy resilience is also becoming a strategic concern as AI workloads intensify. Sean James, Distinguished Engineer - Energy Systems at NVIDIA, warned that AI demand behaves differently from traditional power loads.

“Hundreds of megawatts moving in seconds is a power quality problem before it is a capacity problem,” he said, arguing that operators should use energy storage and advanced controls to manage fluctuations.

The UAE has placed digital infrastructure at the centre of its economic ambitions, targeting a doubling of the digital economy's contribution to GDP over the next decade. Abu Dhabi is pursuing an AI-native government strategy, while Khazna is developing G42's planned 1GW Stargate UAE cluster alongside partners including OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco and SoftBank.

Reflecting that momentum, Tara Gibb, Senior Event Director for Data Center World, said the Gulf has become“one of its most important growth markets”, highlighting how the region's push for AI capacity is reshaping the global data centre landscape.

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