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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)
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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.

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Aramco to Buy Stake in JV Petro Rabigh from Sumitomo Chem

The deal shrinks Sumitomo Chemical's stake in the joint venture to 15% while increasing Aramco's share to 60%. AFP
The deal shrinks Sumitomo Chemical's stake in the joint venture to 15% while increasing Aramco's share to 60%. AFP
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Aramco to Buy Stake in JV Petro Rabigh from Sumitomo Chem

The deal shrinks Sumitomo Chemical's stake in the joint venture to 15% while increasing Aramco's share to 60%. AFP
The deal shrinks Sumitomo Chemical's stake in the joint venture to 15% while increasing Aramco's share to 60%. AFP

Saudi Aramco will buy from Japan's Sumitomo Chemical a 22.5% stake in their petrochemical joint venture Petro Rabigh for $702 million, the companies said on Wednesday.

Under the deal, Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical will each provide $702 million in funding to Petro Rabigh and waive loans worth a total $1.5 billion, the statement said.

The deal shrinks Sumitomo Chemical's stake in the joint venture to 15% while increasing Aramco's share to 60%.

The sale aligns with Aramco's downstream expansion and Sumitomo Chemical's move away from commodity chemicals toward specialty chemicals, they added.

“Aramco continues to identify opportunities to strengthen its downstream value chain, secure placement of its upstream crude oil with affiliated refineries, and convert more of its hydrocarbons into high-value materials,” Aramco Senior Vice President of Fuels Hussain A. Al Qahtani said.

“By increasing our shareholding, we expect to achieve even closer integration with Petro Rabigh and facilitate its turnaround strategy,” he added.

According to Seiji Takeuchi, Sumitomo Chemical Senior Managing Executive Officer, the transaction “will significantly enhance Petro Rabigh’s financial position.”

Sumitomo Chemical plans to book a pre-tax loss of 27 billion yen ($183 million) in the July-September quarter as a result of the deal, the company said in a separate statement, adding that it is sticking to its annual profit forecast it announced in April.