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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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Egypt Reviews Public Spending Priorities to Contain Impact of Economic Reforms

Egypt’s Finance Minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, speaks during the news conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Egypt’s Finance Minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, speaks during the news conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Egypt Reviews Public Spending Priorities to Contain Impact of Economic Reforms

Egypt’s Finance Minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, speaks during the news conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Egypt’s Finance Minister, Ahmed Kouchouk, speaks during the news conference. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Egypt’s Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said on Tuesday the ministry was working to re-arrange priorities in order to contain the impact of economic reforms.

In his first press conference after assuming office, he stressed that the volume of spending on education was increased during the last fiscal year by 25 percent, the health sector by 24 percent, and the social protection sector by 20 percent.”

He added that fuel subsidies topped EGP 165 billion ($3.35 billion), an increase of 31 percent year-on-year in the fiscal year 2023-2024, while government support for food supplies rose to more than EGP 133 billion, an increase of 10 percent on an annual basis.

This year, Egypt raised the prices of fuel and bread, a heavily subsidized commodity, in implementation of one of the conditions of the International Monetary Fund’s $8 billion loan program.

The government’s priority is to maximize resources to create sufficient financial space to spend on areas of human development, emphasized the minister.

He added: “The budget figures, no matter how much they improve, will be meaningless, if they are not reflected in strengthening the performance of the economy and the competitiveness of the business community, and improving the standard of living.”

Regarding tax revenues, Kouchouk said: “No new taxes were imposed last year, and the 30% increase in tax revenues was spent on health, education, and social protection programs.”

Tax revenues grew by 60%, exceeding the rate of expenditure growth, with non-tax revenues increasing by 190%, mainly due to diversifying state resources, including the treasury’s 50% share from the Ras El-Hikma deal.

Kouchouk also stressed the government’s continued efforts to encourage investment and support economic activities despite global, regional, and local challenges.