Oracle Opens 2nd Public Cloud Region in Saudi Arabia to Meet Growing Demand for AI

Oracle is looking to capitalize on the growing demand for cloud and AI to launch three public could regions in Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Oracle is looking to capitalize on the growing demand for cloud and AI to launch three public could regions in Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Oracle Opens 2nd Public Cloud Region in Saudi Arabia to Meet Growing Demand for AI

Oracle is looking to capitalize on the growing demand for cloud and AI to launch three public could regions in Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Oracle is looking to capitalize on the growing demand for cloud and AI to launch three public could regions in Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Oracle on Tuesday announced the opening of its second public cloud region in Saudi Arabia to meet the rapidly growing demand for its AI and cloud services.

“The new Riyadh cloud region will help public and private sector organizations migrate all types of workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), giving them access to a wide range of cloud services to modernize their applications and innovate with data, analytics, and AI,” the US company said in a statement.

Center3 is the host partner for the new Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region.

As part of Oracle’s distributed cloud strategy and Oracle’s $1.5 billion investment to expand cloud infrastructure capabilities in the Kingdom, the new region will help boost Saudi Arabia’s AI economy, which is expected to reach $135.2 billion by 2030, the statement said.

The Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region joins the existing Oracle Cloud Jeddah Region and the planned Oracle Cloud Region in NEOM to extend Oracle’s footprint in Saudi Arabia, it added.

“The opening of Oracle’s new cloud region in Riyadh reflects the Kingdom’s continuous efforts in boosting the digital economy based on modern technologies and innovation,” said Eng. Haytham Alohali, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. “This step will significantly enable international and local companies to achieve innovation and promote the adoption of AI and cloud computing technologies in various sectors, which enhances Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness at the regional and international level.”

For his part, Richard Smith, executive vice president and general manager in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Cloud Infrastructure at Oracle, said: “With the rapid expansion of our cloud footprint in Saudi Arabia, Oracle is committed to helping the country achieve its goal of developing one of the strongest digital economies in the world.”

“As part of our wider investment in cloud capabilities in Saudi Arabia, the Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region will help accelerate adoption of cloud and AI technologies to boost innovation across all sectors of the Saudi economy, while helping organizations addressing local data hosting requirements,” he added.



Saudi FDI Balance Records 6.1% Growth in 1st Quarter of 2024

The Saudi capital, Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi capital, Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi FDI Balance Records 6.1% Growth in 1st Quarter of 2024

The Saudi capital, Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi capital, Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The foreign direct investment (FDI) balance in Saudi Arabia recorded a growth of 6.1 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period last year, highlighting the confidence of foreign investors in the Kingdom’s investment environment.

According to a recent report issued by the Ministry of Investment, FDI flows achieved a growth of 0.6 percent during the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2023.

The report revealed that 2,728 licenses were issued by the Ministry in the second quarter of 2024, on an annual basis, after excluding licenses related to the campaign to combat violators of the Commercial Concealment Law.

Total fixed capital formation achieved a growth of 7.9 percent during the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. This is attributed to the increase in both fixed capital formation of the government and non-government sectors by 17.8 percent and 7.2 percent respectively during the same period.

The report revealed positive growth in the rates of most economic activities in the first quarter of 2024, on an annual basis, as wholesale and retail trade activity, restaurants and hotels achieved the highest growth rate of 5.9 percent, followed by transportation, storage and communications at 5 percent.

Collective, social and personal services, as well as agriculture, forestry and fisheries also saw a growth of 4.5 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.

The Ministry of Investment, in cooperation with the Thai Investment Board and the Embassy of Thailand in Saudi Arabia, recently organized the Saudi-Thai Investment Forum in Riyadh, in the presence of Minister of Investment Eng. Khaled Al-Falih and Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa. A number of officials and CEOs of major companies and representatives of the private sector from both the countries participated in the event.

During the forum, the officials announced the opening of an office for the Thai Investment Council in Riyadh to confirm the strategic partnership, strengthen economic relations between the Kingdom and Thailand, and expand trade exchange.

The event also witnessed the signing of 11 agreements and memorandums of understanding in several fields, including agriculture, food, tourism, infrastructure, and energy.