Manal Saleh


  

RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – 31 August 2026 – Microsoft today confirmed its Saudi Arabia East datacenter region will be available to customers in November 2026, enabling government and private sector organizations to access supported Microsoft cloud and AI services and host eligible workloads and data locally in the Kingdom.  

Located in the Eastern Province and comprising three Azure Availability Zones, the new region provides customers with local data residency, enterprise-grade security, high availability and low-latency access to cloud and AI services.  

The milestone marks the next phase of Microsoft’s long-term investment in Saudi Arabia. As organizations across the Kingdom move from AI experimentation to deployment at scale, the new region will provide the local digital foundation needed to support mission-critical workloads, strengthen resilience and accelerate AI adoption in line with Saudi Vision 2030.  

Saudi organizations are already using Microsoft cloud and AI technologies to transform operations, improve services and build new experiences. The availability of local infrastructure will create new opportunities to bring more of these workloads into the Kingdom and scale AI across sectors where data residency, security, resilience and latency are critical.  

According to an IDC study*, Microsoft, its partners and customers using Microsoft cloud technologies are expected to generate an estimated $44 billion in new revenues for the Saudi economy between 2027 and 2030. The study estimates that the new Saudi Arabia East datacenter region will contribute approximately 13.4% of that value. It also projects the creation of around 100,000 new jobs across the Saudi economy during the same period.  

“Saudi Arabia is building one of the world’s most ambitious AI-powered economies, enabled by strong partnerships and world-class digital infrastructure,” said Eng. Nasser Alnasser, Deputy Minister of Technology at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). “The availability of Microsoft’s cloud region in the Kingdom represents an important step in accelerating AI adoption, empowering innovators, entrepreneurs and organizations across all sectors to create new opportunities for growth and competitiveness. This investment strengthens Saudi Arabia’s position as a global hub for technology and innovation and supports our Vision 2030 ambitions to build a thriving digital economy powered by talent, innovation and advanced technologies.”  

“Today’s milestone is about much more than bringing cloud infrastructure closer to our customers,” said Ayman AlGhamdi, Microsoft Arabia President. “It is about giving organizations across Saudi Arabia the foundation to take AI from experimentation into everyday operations. By combining local cloud infrastructure with Microsoft’s AI capabilities, security, resilience, skills and a stronger partner ecosystem, we want to help Saudi organizations turn AI investment into measurable value for their businesses, their customers and the Kingdom’s economy.”  

Building an AI ecosystem, not only a datacenter  

Microsoft is already investing in the skills needed to turn AI infrastructure into economic opportunity. The company has already helped 1.6 million people in Saudi Arabia acquire digital and AI skills, including students, educators, women and professionals, working alongside government and ecosystem partners. This supports Microsoft’s broader commitment to help three million people in the Kingdom acquire AI skills by 2030.  

Microsoft is also collaborating with Saudi AI leaders such as HUMAIN to develop and scale locally relevant AI solutions, while helping organizations modernize their data estates and prepare workloads for AI.  

The Microsoft Innovation Hub in Saudi Arabia, also scheduled to launch in November, will help organizations across the Kingdom turn ambition into practical innovation. Through immersive experiences, collaborative workshops and hands-on engagement with the latest Microsoft AI and cloud technologies, the Hub will enable customers and partners to explore, prototype and accelerate real-world solutions that drive business and societal impact.  

Microsoft also announced the AI Arabia Center of Excellence, in collaboration with MCIT, the Skills Council and Gulf Intelligence, to support the development of local AI capability. The Center will bring together expertise and research to help advance the conversation around AI adoption in Saudi Arabia and support the Kingdom’s growing AI ecosystem.  

Together, these investments are designed to make AI adoption real: providing the infrastructure to run workloads locally, the security and governance to deploy them with confidence, the ecosystem to develop locally relevant solutions and the skills required to put AI to work.  

As Saudi Arabia accelerates its ambition to become a global AI hub, the Saudi Arabia East region will provide another critical piece of that ecosystem, enabling organizations to build and scale AI in the Kingdom while contributing to the economic diversification and innovation ambitions of Vision 2030.  

IDC Info Snapshot, sponsored by Microsoft, The Microsoft Cloud Dividend Snapshot: Saudi Arabia, Doc. #META54896426, September 2026  

About Microsoft 
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.