The GCC Data Centre Projects Market 2026

Produced by MEED, a the analyst company, this report delivers a project-by-project view of the GCC’s data centre buildout at a time when cloud adoption, AI workloads and data localisation are reshaping national infrastructure priorities.

The GCC Data Centre Projects Market 2026 tracks 174+ major active and planned projects across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain, with a combined value of more than $93bn.

Who will benefit from this report?

Designed for organisations involved in planning, financing, delivering or supplying digital infrastructure, including:

Data centre developers and operators
Contractors and engineering consultants
Technology firms and specialist suppliers (power, cooling, electrical, modular)
Investors, infrastructure funds, banks and advisors
Policy makers, economists, analysts, academics and researchers

To help you prioritise opportunities, the report:

Reviews 30+ projects in-depth, including capacity, location, development stage, timelines, ownership, stakeholders, contractors and key decision makers
Provides a structured project listing for the remaining pipeline, with essential data points and scope notes for fast qualification and comparison

All findings are anchored in MEED Projects data, supported by human-checked project research from MEED’s regional team, so you can act on reliable, deal-relevant intelligence rather than desk-based assumptions.

Data centres have become foundational to the GCC’s digital economy, supporting sovereign cloud ambitions, smart city programmes, fintech growth, e-government services and cybersecurity resilience. As demand accelerates, investors and suppliers face a crowded pipeline where power availability, grid constraints, cooling performance, sustainability requirements and delivery capacity can determine whether projects move from announcement to execution.

Who is driving investment?

Track activity across public and private sector clients, including global hyperscalers and regional developers. The report covers the market landscape shaped by organisations such as Amazon Web Services, Khazna, Etisalat, Google, Huawei, and other active owners, developers, utilities and government stakeholders across the GCC.

The policy and regulatory context

The report assesses the drivers and constraints influencing delivery, including:

Data localisation rules and hosting requirements
Country-level digital policies and regulatory frameworks
National programmes supporting long-term demand (e.g., Saudi Vision 2030, UAE digital economy and AI initiatives, and broader GCC cloud-first/localisation strategies)

Report Scope

This report includes analysis of:

GCC data centre project pipelines by country and project type
Investment outlook, capex trends and client spending plans
Procurement routes, packaging strategies and delivery models
Power and cooling technologies, energy efficiency and ESG considerations
Renewable energy integration and sustainability requirements
Regulatory frameworks and data localisation policies
Profiles and activity of key developers, hyperscalers, contractors and suppliers

Countries covered: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain

Reasons to Buy

Identify upcoming opportunities across hyperscale, colocation, enterprise and edge facilities
Monitor live pipelines and capacity expansion timelines across all six GCC markets
Understand procurement routes, phasing strategies and delivery models
Assess execution risks linked to grid access, land availability, contractor capacity and sustainability targets
Prioritise markets, clients and partners with greater confidence
All insights are grounded in project-level intelligence verified by MEED’s research team, not desk-based assumptions.

1 Executive Snapshot

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Introduction
2.2 Data Centre Typologies & Classifications
2.3 Evolution of Data Centres: 1950s - Present
2.4 GCC Data Centre Evolution

3 Key Trends & Market Signals

3.1 Key Trends in Modern Data Centres: Global & GCC
3.2 Global Distribution of Data Centres
3.3 Installed Capacity Growth: Historic & Forecast
3.4 Data Centre Construction Projects Globally
3.5 Regional Power Demand: Historic & Outlook
3.6 Technology & Value Chain Leaders

4 Market Drivers & Constraints

5 Supply Ecosystem

5.1 Supply Chain Dynamics
5.2 GCC Supply Chain by Country
5.3 GCC Data Centre Operators
5.4 GCC - Data Centre Equipment Suppliers

6 Capex & Delivery

6.1 GCC Data Centre Construction Cost Index 2025
6.2 GCC Data Centre - PPP Framework

7 Regulation & Policy

8 Regional Projects Market

8.1 Project Market Size
8.2 Historical Contracts
8.3 Pipeline Projects
8.4 Top Stakeholders
8.5 Top Projects in Execution
8.6 Top Future Projects

9 Case Studies

9.1 Major Data Centre Projects in Saudi Arabia
9.2 Other Known Data Centre Projects in Saudi Arabia
9.3 Major Data Centre Projects in the UAE
9.4 Other Known Data Centre Projects in the UAE
9.5 Major Data Centre Projects in Bahrain
9.6 Other Known Data Centre Projects in Bahrain
9.7 Major Data Centre Projects in Kuwait
9.8 Other Known Data Centre Projects in Kuwait
9.9 Major Data Centre Projects in Qatar
9.1 Other Known Data Centre Projects in Qatar

10 Contact the Publisher

List of Tables

Table 1 GCC Data Centre Strategic Shift (2015-2020) - Vision-Driven Infrastructure Expansion
Table 2 Global Leaders Shaping the Data Centre Ecosystem Across Servers, Storage, Networking, Cloud, Edge, and Telecom.
Table 3 GCC Data Centre Supply Chain Snapshot
Table 4 Global Data Centre Cost Index (2024 & 2025)
Table 5 Top Data Centre Projects under Execution in the GCC
Table 6 Top Planned and Un-awarded Data Centre Projects in GCC in different Bidding Stages
Table 7 Top Planned and Un-awarded Data Centre Projects in GCC under Study or Design
Table 8 Key Specifications and Features of the Humain - Riyadh 112 MW Data Centre
Table 9 Key Specifications and Features of the NEOM/Ezditek - NEOM City: Oxagon: Southern Cluster: Data Centre
Table 10 Key Specifications and Features of the SFMC Data Centre in Riyadh
Table 11 Key Specifications and Features of the Riyadh RUH01 Data Centre
Table 12 Key Specifications and Features of the Khazna Data Center in Dammam
Table 13 Key Specifications and Features of the Saudi Telecom Company - Data Centre in Dammam
Table 14 Key Specifications and Features of the DataVolt - Modon Technical Zone Riyadh Data Centre
Table 15 Key Specifications and Features of the MCIT - Jeddah Data Centre
Table 16 Key Specifications and Features of the MIS - Sahayeb Data Centres Expansion
Table 17 Key Specifications and Features of the Desert Dragon - Desert Dragon Data Centers
Table 18 Key Specifications and Features of the DataVolt/ NEOM - Oxagon AI Data Centre Campus
Table 19 Key Specifications and Features of the Amazon Web Services - AWS Data Centres
Table 20 Key Specifications and Features of the 6 GW AI Datacenter in Saudi Arabia
Table 21 Key Specifications and Features of the The Blackstone Group - Hyperscale Data Centre Campus
Table 22 Key Specifications and Features of the Ezditek - JED Hyperscale Data Centre
Table 23 Key Specifications and Features of the SFC - Six Data Centres
Table 24 Key Specifications and Features of the Ezditek - 24MW Riyadh PNU Hyperscale Data Centre
Table 25 Key Specifications and Features of the MoI, Saudi Arabia - Jeddah SFMC Data Centre
Table 26 Key Specifications and Features of the MCIT - NEOM City Data Centre
Table 27 Key Specifications and Features of the NVIDIA/Humain - AI Datacentre Factory
Table 28 Key Specifications and Features of Ezditek - Al Jenadriyah Technical Zone (Riyadh) Data Centre
Table 29 Key Specifications and Features of the MCIT - Riyadh Data Centre
Table 30 Key Specifications and Features of MODON - Dammam Second Industrial City Data Centre
Table 31 Under Execution Projects in Saudi Arabia
Table 32 Planned and Unawarded Projects in Saudi Arabia
Table 33 Key Specifications and Features of the AI Enhanced Data Centre in Al Amerah
Table 34 Key Specifications and Features of the Group 42 - Project Stargate (5GW)
Table 35 Key Specifications and Features of the Equinix - Dubai Production City: DX3.2 Data Centre
Table 36 Key Specifications and Features of ADIO/Khazna - Mafraq Data Centre (AUH04)
Table 37 Key Specifications and Features of the Moro Hub - Solar Powered Data Centre
Table 38 Key Specifications and Features of EITC (du)/ Microsoft - Dubai Hyperscale Data Centre
Table 39 Under Execution Projects in the UAE
Table 40 Pipeline Projects in the UAE
Table 41 Key Specifications and Features of the USACE - P979 DISA Core Data Centre
Table 42 Pipeline Projects in Bahrain
Table 43 Key Specifications and Features of the Boubyan Bank Data Centre
Table 44 Pipeline Projects in Kuwait
Table 45 Key Specifications and Features of the Meeza - MV6 Data Centre Expansion 44MW
Table 46 Key Specifications and Features of the Meeza - MV4 Data Centre Expansion 4 MW
Table 47 Under Execution Projects in Qatar

List of Figures

Figure 1 Number of Data Centres by Country
Figure 2 Growth in the Number of Hyperscale Data Centres Globally (operational)
Figure 3 Installed Capacity of Data Centres by Type/Model Globally (GW)
Figure 4 Installed Capacity of Data Centres by Region (GW)
Figure 5 Global - Data Centre Construction Project Pipeline, Value by Stage and Region ($m)
Figure 6 Electricity Consumption of Data Centres Globally by Year (TWh)
Figure 7 Electricity Consumption of Data Centres by Region (TWh)
Figure 8 Data Centre Cost Index 2025 of Top 5 Markets, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE
Figure 9 Data Centre Projects Market by Project Status ($m)
Figure 10 Value of Contract Awards in GCC by Year, 2017 - 2025 ($m)
Figure 11 Value of Contract Awards by Year and Country ($m)
Figure 12 Data Centre Projects Currently under Construction in GCC
Figure 13 Value of Known, Planned and Un-Awarded Projects by Status ($m)
Figure 14 GCC Data Centre Projects planned but unawarded by Status (%)
Figure 15 Upcoming Data Centres in GCC
Figure 16 Top 20 Clients in GCC by Value of Contracts in Execution ($m)
Figure 17 Top 20 Main Contractors in GCC by Value of Contracts in Execution ($m)
Figure 18 Top 15 Future Clients by Value of Contracts Planned ($m)

Companies Mentioned (Partial List)

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:

Amazon Web Services
Khazna
Etisalat
Google
Huawei
Moro and Gulf Data Hub
Saudi Telecom Company
Khazna Data Centers
Gulf Data Hub
Moro Hub
Equinix
Edgnex
Schneider Electric
Vertiv
Siemens
Johnson Controls
AECOM
Arup
Horizons Contracting Co
BK Gulf LLC
ACWA Power
Procore
Watts Industries Middle East FZE
Korea Plant Industries Association
SEPCO
AVK Gulf
Atco Group

License	Format	Properties	Price
SINGLE USER LICENSE PDF	The product is a PDF.	This is a single user license, allowing one user access to the product.	€3597EUR$4,000USD£3,102GBP
SITE LICENSE PDF	The product is a PDF.	This is a site license, allowing all users within a given geographical location of your organization access to the product.	€8093EUR$9,000USD£6,980GBP
ENTERPRISE LICENSE PDF	The product is a PDF.	This is an enterprise license, allowing all employees within your organization access to the product.	€13489EUR$15,000USD£11,634GBP

Who will benefit from this report?

Designed for organisations involved in planning, financing, delivering or supplying digital infrastructure, including:

To help you prioritise opportunities, the report:

Who is driving investment?

The policy and regulatory context

The report assesses the drivers and constraints influencing delivery, including:

Report Scope

This report includes analysis of:

Countries covered: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain

Reasons to Buy

Table of Contents

Companies Mentioned (Partial List)

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