Microsoft will bring its Saudi Arabia East datacentre region online in November 2026, adding local cloud and AI infrastructure for public and private sector customers in the Kingdom.
Located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the facility will include three Azure Availability Zones. Microsoft said the region will provide data residency, low latency and high availability, allowing regulated organisations to run sensitive and compute-intensive workloads within the country.
The project was first announced at LEAP in February 2023, while physical construction was completed in 2024. The launch is expected to support demand from organisations moving AI projects from testing into production.
An IDC study cited in the announcement estimates that Microsoft, its partners and customers will generate $44 billion in new revenue for the Saudi economy between 2027 and 2030. The new region is expected to account for about 13.4% of that value and contribute to around 100,000 jobs across the Kingdom.
Microsoft also said it has trained 1.6 million people in Saudi Arabia in digital and AI skills, with a target of reaching three million citizens by 2030. The company plans to open a Microsoft Innovation Hub and an AI Arabia Center of Excellence in November 2026, and will work with Saudi AI company HUMAIN on locally tailored software and data platform upgrades.
Source: Middle East AI News
