Saudi Data Centre Load Tracker

Data-centre facilities tracked in Saudi Arabia

Source: KAPSARC + ICAIRE discussion paper and public-domain announcements

291 MW

IT load today (2024 baseline)

Source: KAPSARC + ICAIRE discussion paper and public-domain announcements

1–4 GW

2030 IT load, scenario range

Indicative

Source: KAPSARC + ICAIRE discussion paper and public-domain announcements

Preview

Renewable Vision Intelligence, dashboard

From the 2024 IT load to the 2030 scenario range

From 58 facilities and about 291 MW of IT load in 2024 to between 1,050 and 4,100 MW by 2030 across the published scenarios. The tracker layers KAPSARC, CST, MCIT and S&P Global data with operator and partner primary releases. Disclosed MW figures are campus plans, phases, program targets and service milestones that overlap, so they are shown per record and never summed.

Curated snapshotAs of September 2026 · 6 flagship projects · Reviewed quarterly with monthly verification

2024 baseline

Where Saudi stands today

Operational facilities

CST 2024 data-centre registry

IT capacity (MW)

290.5

+54% CAGR since 2022

Electricity (TWh / yr)

2.8

0.85% of national demand

Emissions (Mt CO2)

1.6

Of ~590 Mt national total

Announced investment

$25B

$77B pipeline by 2034

2030 scenarios

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.

ScenarioPermitted and early-execution AI projects + general-purpose growth

2030 installed capacity

2,000 MWPUE 1.4-1.6

Electricity

20.15 TWh / yr

5.55% of national demand

→ 17.62 TWh with efficiency, 13% saving

CO2, fossil mix

11.48 Mt

Falls to 3.7 Mt under 2030 clean mix

All scenarios side by side

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.

Capacity curve, 2022-2030

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.

Spatial concentration, 2024

Where Saudi capacity lives today

Dammam41%

Largest cluster, Gulf industrial corridor, subsea cables, energy companies

Riyadh38%

Capital hub for general-purpose cloud and enterprise; government and HQs

Jeddah7%

Red Sea gateway; commercial cluster

Other14%

Madinah, Buraydah, Alkhobar and others (~1-3% each)

Interactive map

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.

Projects online by year20306 visible

Loading the map…

LegendOperationalUnder constructionAnnouncedClick any marker for project details

Flagship projects

Where the gigawatts are coming from

6 shown · 6 with a disclosed MW figure

3 with a stated location · figures are not additive

Filter

Cost drivers

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.

Utilization rateVery high

Largest single driver; gains diminish above ~70% load factor

Hardware efficiencyVery high

Each GPU generation cuts $/output meaningfully

Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)Medium

Cooling and infrastructure overhead

Electricity tariffMedium

Saudi industrial tariff ~$0.053/kWh remains globally competitive

Cooling water availabilityMedium

Arid climate; waterless cooling and dry coolers favored

Land and permittingLow

Pre-zoned AI investment zones simplify siting

Best-practice levers

How global operators are decarbonising data centres

Microsoft

Waterless cooling

Reported 2024

Zero-water cooling architecture for AI-optimized centres; relies on a sealed chip-to-loop system paired with high-efficiency chillers

Google

Geothermal supply

Reported 2024

Geothermal-fed continuous clean power, used in Belgian campus alongside solar and wind

Amazon Web Services

100% renewable procurement

Reported 2024

Matched 100% of electricity consumption with renewable energy purchases in 2024

Why the Kingdom is competitive

Vision 2030

66 of 96 Vision objectives tied directly or indirectly to data and AI (SDAIA 2025)

Cloud First Policy + Data Centre Services Regulations

Mandates sustainability plans, energy efficiency, carbon reduction and electronic waste management

Global AI Hub Law

Defines Private, Extended, and Virtual Hubs, allowing cross-border AI deployment

Industrial electricity tariff ~$0.053 / kWh

Up to 30% lower total cost of ownership vs comparable international markets

Renewables pipeline 130 GW by 2030

44 GW already tendered, 20 GW added in 2023; Al-Shuaiba achieved $0.0104/kWh

Grid expansion

Transmission lines 96,496 km, 160,000 km by 2030; substations 1,235 to 1,650

Battery storage

48,000 MWh utility-scale BESS target

16 subsea cable systems

Five coastal landing cities; Red Sea and Arabian Gulf routes

Global context

How Saudi sits in the global AI compute race

Global capacity 2024

111,900 MW

→ 224,000 MW by 2030

Global electricity 2024

854 TWh

→ 1891 TWh by 2030

AI share of DC power

5–15%

Rising to 35–50% by 2030

Middle East capacity

5,311 MW

→ 8,938 MW by 2030

US share, 2024

35%

China share, 2024

26%

EU share, 2024

18%

Data sources and methodology

Saudi Data-Centre Inventory, v2026-Q3

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, DataVolt, NVIDIA, AMD, Oracle, AWS, Microsoft, Google, Qualcomm, Groq, AirTrunk, Together AI, MIS, Luma and stc primary releases reviewed 12 September 2026; register reconciled 13 September 2026.

Capacity estimation

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

Last update

September 2026

Review cadence

Quarterly with monthly verification

Indicative, screening-grade. Renewable Vision adds interim verifications as projects reach FID or COD.

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