Saudi Arabia AI Data Centre Tracker
Saudi AI data-centre build-out
From 58 facilities and ~290 MW today to a possible 4 GW by 2030 under the high-growth scenario. The tracker layers KAPSARC, CST, MCIT, and S&P Global data with the latest HUMAIN, NEOM, NVIDIA, AMD, Oracle, AWS, Google, and Qualcomm announcements.
Where Saudi stands today
Three trajectories for Saudi data-centre capacity
Source: KAPSARC + ICAIRE 2025. Capacity in MW, electricity in TWh per year, emissions in Mt CO2 with both fossil-mix and 2030-target clean-mix factors.
| Scenario | MW | TWh / yr | % national | Mt CO2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low growth (baseline) | 1,050 | 10.2 | 2.79% | 5.81 / 2.15 |
| Moderate growth (realistic) | 2,000 | 20.1 | 5.55% | 11.48 / 3.7 |
| High growth (visionary) | 4,100 | 42.2 | 11.55% | 24.02 / 7.7 |
CO2 columns show fossil-mix / 2030 clean-mix outcomes. Clean-mix uses Saudi’s 2030 target emission factor (0.21 tCO2 / MWh) versus today’s ~0.57 tCO2 / MWh.
From 290 MW today to 1, 2, or 4 GW by 2030
Three scenarios branching from the 2025 inflection. Shaded band shows the spread between the low and high cases.
Where Saudi capacity lives today
Largest cluster, Gulf industrial corridor, subsea cables, energy companies
Capital hub for general-purpose cloud and enterprise; government and HQs
Red Sea gateway; commercial cluster
Madinah, Buraydah, Alkhobar and others (~1-3% each)
Saudi data-centre footprint
Markers are sized by IT capacity (MW) and coloured by status. Drag the year slider to project the build-out forward through 2034.
Where the gigawatts are coming from
What moves AI-data-centre economics
KAPSARC finds project costs are most sensitive to utilization and hardware efficiency, with diminishing returns at high load factors. Saudi tariffs remain globally competitive even with elevated cooling needs.
Largest single driver; gains diminish above ~70% load factor
Each GPU generation cuts $/output meaningfully
Cooling and infrastructure overhead
Saudi industrial tariff ~$0.053/kWh remains globally competitive
Arid climate; waterless cooling and dry coolers favored
Pre-zoned AI investment zones simplify siting
How global operators are decarbonising data centres
Zero-water cooling architecture for AI-optimized centres; relies on a sealed chip-to-loop system paired with high-efficiency chillers
Geothermal-fed continuous clean power, used in Belgian campus alongside solar and wind
Matched 100% of electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases in 2024
Odense campus delivers 165,000 MWh/yr of recovered heat to local district heating (9,000 households); LEED Gold
Why the Kingdom is competitive
66 of 96 Vision objectives tied directly or indirectly to data and AI (SDAIA 2025)
Mandates sustainability plans, energy efficiency, carbon reduction and electronic waste management
Defines Private, Extended, and Virtual Hubs, allowing cross-border AI deployment
Up to 30% lower total cost of ownership vs comparable international markets
44 GW already tendered, 20 GW added in 2023; Al-Shuaiba achieved $0.0104/kWh
Transmission lines 96,496 km, 160,000 km by 2030; substations 1,235 to 1,650
48,000 MWh utility-scale BESS target
Five coastal landing cities; Red Sea and Arabian Gulf routes
How Saudi sits in the global AI compute race
Saudi Data-Centre Inventory, v2026-Q2
Primary source: Alshehri, AlFattani, Bashmal, Alshmmari, 'AI and Energy: The Future of Data Centers in Saudi Arabia', KAPSARC + ICAIRE Discussion Paper, December 2025, DOI 10.30573/KS--2025-DP69.
Additional sources: S&P Global Data Center Capacity Survey 2024-25; CST 2024 Data Centre Registry; MCIT 2023-2024; HUMAIN, NEOM, NVIDIA, AMD, Oracle, AWS, Google, Qualcomm public announcements.
- Capex proxy, ~$7–11M / MW for hyperscale builds
- Generator count × MVA × 0.9 P.F.
- Rack method, racks × 6 kW (Tier III)
- Portfolio split when only a programme total is published