Oracle is adding data centres in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and it is not saying exactly where. Speaking to The National at Oracle AI World on 29 October, Cormac Watters, Oracle's executive vice president of applications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the company had added a couple of new facilities in the past six months and would open more in the next six, driven by demand for AI.
For businesses in the region, the most useful part of the interview is what customers now ask first. According to Watters, every conversation starts with sovereignty.
What Oracle announced
- More local capacity. Oracle already runs cloud regions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and in Jeddah and Riyadh, with a further region planned for Neom. It is now adding data centres in both countries.
- Undisclosed locations. The company declined to say where the new sites are, citing the geopolitical situation after attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Gulf earlier this year.
- Fast regional growth. The Middle East is Oracle's fastest-growing subregion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with opportunities also in Qatar and Kuwait.
- "Digital embassies". Oracle is discussing sovereign cloud infrastructure that could be moved to another country in an emergency while keeping its legal and operational sovereignty, much like an embassy. Watters noted that regulated sectors such as banking would need approval first.
The backdrop is heavy investment. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced AI investment plans worth more than 5% of GDP last year, about $120 billion.
Why data residency now comes first
Watters summed up the question customers ask as where the data is stored, and who has "the big kill switch". For organisations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, that question has two parts.
Regulation. In the UAE, the Personal Data Protection Law, sector rules from regulators such as the Central Bank, and the separate regimes in free zones such as DIFC and ADGM all shape where personal and financial data may be held and who may access it. In Saudi Arabia, the Personal Data Protection Law and the National Cybersecurity Authority's controls for cloud services set similar expectations, especially for government and critical sectors. Requirements vary by sector and change over time, so confirm the specifics with your legal and compliance advisers.
Resilience. This year showed that physical risk to data centres in the region is not theoretical. Hosting locally answers the residency question, but a single site does not answer the continuity question. That is the gap "digital embassies" and multi-region designs are trying to close.
More local capacity from the large providers is good news on both counts. It also means more choice, and more decisions to get right.
Questions to ask before choosing a cloud region
- Which data must stay in the country? Map your personal, financial and government-related data against the rules for your sector and, where relevant, your free zone.
- Where exactly is it stored and processed? Check backups, disaster recovery copies, support access and AI services, not just the primary region.
- Who holds the keys? Ask whether you can manage your own encryption keys, and who could be compelled to give access to your data.
- What happens if a region goes down? Understand the failover options, whether a second in-country region exists, and how long recovery would take.
- How easy is it to leave? Check data export formats, egress charges and contract terms before you commit.
- What should stay on premises? Some workloads still belong in your own data centre. A hybrid design, with modern servers, storage and secure connectivity, often gives the best balance of control and flexibility.
Closing thoughts
The large cloud providers' growth in the Gulf gives organisations more local options than ever. The ones that benefit most will decide their data rules first and choose infrastructure second.
At COMMPRO Technologies, we supply the servers, storage, networking and security that on-premises and hybrid environments rely on, across the UAE and GCC. Weighing cloud against on-premises, or planning a hybrid design? Talk to the COMMPRO team.
