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Microsoft Completes Three Azure Availability Zones in Saudi Arabia to Power Generative AI

Turki Badhris, head of Microsoft Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Turki Badhris, head of Microsoft Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Microsoft Completes Three Azure Availability Zones in Saudi Arabia to Power Generative AI

Turki Badhris, head of Microsoft Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Turki Badhris, head of Microsoft Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Microsoft has confirmed the completion of three "availability zones" within its Azure data center region in Saudi Arabia. This development is critical to solidifying the Kingdom's regional leadership in artificial intelligence (AI).

This infrastructure provides "sovereign cloud" capabilities, enabling government entities and the private sector to adopt generative AI technologies locally while fully complying with national regulations.

This move strengthens the Kingdom's position as a secure, compliant, and AI-ready digital hub, aligning directly with Vision 2030 goals. The company's "AI Diffusion 2025 Report" ranked Saudi Arabia among the top three in the Middle East and Africa and among the top 25 countries globally in AI adoption, noting that approximately one-third of users in the Kingdom are now active adopters of AI-enhanced tools, SPA reported.

Regarding national capability development, Microsoft reported that joint training programs have reached more than one million beneficiaries over the past two years. Key initiatives include training over two-thirds of a million participants in the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority's (SDAIA) "SAMAI" initiative, empowering over 5,000 women through specialized programs, and training thousands of students and over 100,000 teachers through partnerships like the AI Academy and the Microsoft Center of Excellence.

The academy’s training has extended to more than 40 universities, producing finalists in international competitions, with intensive camps enabling participants to obtain professional certifications and secure employment for some before graduation.

Microsoft highlighted several examples of the operational impact of its services: Maaden increased productivity and governance, saving more than 2,000 hours per month using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure OpenAI. Obeikan Investment Group connected over 1,200 machines, achieving a 30% increase in productivity on the O3ai platform.

Saudia Airlines developed a smart travel companion using GPT-4 on Azure OpenAI, and ACWA Power enhanced operational safety and water-quality readings using Azure AI capabilities.

Microsoft concluded by stressing that its role as a technology partner to the Kingdom is expanding in preparation for major events like Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup, and by supporting giga-projects—including NEOM, Qiddiya, and the Red Sea—and enabling digital transformation in key sectors like energy, finance, and logistics.

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Technology

Meta Chief Doubles Down on AI Spending

FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Meta Chief Doubles Down on AI Spending

FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake
FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming kids' mental health through addictive platforms, in Los Angeles, California, US, February 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday defended massive spending on artificial intelligence that dragged down shares despite strong earnings boosted by the technology.

The social networking colossus raised its capital expenditures for this year to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion without laying out exactly how that investment would translate into profit.

"The way to think about the investment is that we're making a bet (on) the individual things that people care about, and that people are going to be more important in the future," Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said during an earnings call, as analysts pressed him about the company's heavy spending on AI.

He gave the example of a hot trend in "agentic" AI in which digital assistants handle computer tasks independently at the behest of people.

"There are a lot of agents out there that people are building for different things, and there aren't that many that I would want to give to my mother," Zuckerberg said.

"I think getting to that quality bar is something that I care about more than hitting a specific week for launching (a new product) or something like that."

Zuckerberg spotlighted a new Muse Spark AI model built by Meta's nascent "Superintelligence Lab", saying its technology will be put to work in Meta's offerings such as smartglasses and its advertising system.

"We are trying novel things," AFP quoted Zuckerberg as saying.

The AI investment from the company that owns Instagram and Facebook is not directly tied to a revenue stream as with Amazon, Microsoft and Google, which sell their AI-powered cloud services to clients worldwide.

Meta sent tremors on Wall Street by announcing in its earnings release that expenses at the tech giant notched up to $33.4 billion as it chases "superintelligence" through major infrastructure buys, and went on a hiring spree for top AI talent.

Shares dropped more than 6 percent even though the company topped forecasts with a profit of $26.8 billion on revenue of $56.3 billion in the quarter.

- Headwinds and scrutiny -

Adding to investor unease about Meta, chief financial officer Susan Li told analysts Meta continues to monitor legal and regulatory "headwinds" in the US and Europe, including social media addiction lawsuits.

"We continue to see scrutiny on youth related issues and have additional trials scheduled for this year in the US, which may ultimately result in a material loss," Li warned.

A Los Angeles jury in March found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman because of an addictive design of their social media platforms, ordering the companies to pay millions of dollars in damages.

The verdict hands plaintiffs in more than a thousand similar pending cases significant leverage -- and signals to the tech industry that juries are prepared to hold social media companies accountable for the mental health toll of their design choices.

Technology

Australia Aims to Tax Tech Giants Unless They Pay News Outlets

A photograph taken during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 19, 2025, shows the logo of Meta, the US company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. (AFP)
A photograph taken during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 19, 2025, shows the logo of Meta, the US company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. (AFP)
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Australia Aims to Tax Tech Giants Unless They Pay News Outlets

A photograph taken during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 19, 2025, shows the logo of Meta, the US company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. (AFP)
A photograph taken during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 19, 2025, shows the logo of Meta, the US company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. (AFP)

Australia unveiled draft laws on Tuesday that would tax tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok unless they voluntarily strike deals to pay local outlets for news.

Traditional media companies around the world are in a battle for survival as readers increasingly consume their news on social media.

Australia wants big tech companies to compensate local publishers for sharing articles that drive traffic on their platforms.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok would be given a chance to strike content deals with local news publishers.

If they refused, they faced a compulsory levy that amounted to 2.25 percent of their Australian revenue, he said.

"Large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations under the news media bargaining code," Albanese told reporters.

"At this point the three organizations are Meta, Google and TikTok."

The changes aim to close a loophole under a previous media law which allowed organizations to avoid a levy if they removed news from their platforms.

The three firms were singled out based on a combination of their Australian revenues and large numbers of domestic users.

The draft laws have been designed to stop the tech giants from simply stripping news from their platforms -- something Meta and Google have done in the past.

"What we are encouraging is for them to sit down with news organizations and get these deals done," Albanese said.

When Canberra mooted similar laws in 2024, Facebook parent Meta announced that Australian users would no longer be able to access the "news" tab.

Meta had previously announced it would not renew content deals with news publishers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

- 'Only fair' -

Google has similarly threatened to restrict its search engine in Australia if forced to compensate news outlets.

Journalism needed to have a "monetary value attached to it", Albanese said.

"It shouldn't be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits with no compensation."

Supporters of such laws argue that social media companies attract users with news stories and hoover up online advertising dollars that would otherwise go to struggling newsrooms.

Meta said the proposed laws were "nothing more than a digital services tax".

"News organizations voluntarily post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so," a spokeswoman said in a statement to AFP.

"The idea that we take their news content is simply wrong."

Australia's University of Canberra has found that more than half the country uses social media as a source of news.

"People are increasingly getting their news directly from Facebook, from TikTok and Google," Communications Minister Anika Wells said.

"We believe it's only fair that large digital platforms contribute to the hard work that enriches their feeds and that drives their revenue."

The draft laws were presented for public consultation on Tuesday, which will close in May.

They would then be introduced into parliament later this year.

Technology

Google Breaks Ground on Indian AI Megahub

Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. (Reuters)
Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. (Reuters)
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Google Breaks Ground on Indian AI Megahub

Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. (Reuters)
Google's logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, US, March 24, 2026. (Reuters)

Tech giant Google on Tuesday marked the ceremonial start of work on its largest artificial intelligence hub outside of the United States with a groundbreaking ceremony in India.

The firm promised in October 2025 to spend $15 billion over five years to construct the vast center in Visakhapatnam, a southeastern port in Andhra Pradesh state of around two million people, popularly known as "Vizag".

"Today marks the first concrete milestone in Google's largest commitment to India's digital future," Bikash Koley, Google's Vice President for Global Infrastructure, told the ceremony.

"This project represents a $15 billion blueprint to deliver a full stack AI ecosystem," he added.

"At its core is our gigawatt scale data center campus, purpose built for the immense computational demand of the AI era, powering services like Gemini and Google Search."

Nara Lokesh, information technology minister for Andhra Pradesh state, said he was "excited as we embark on this journey to build India's most coveted AI and deep-tech hub".

Vizag is being pitched as a landing point for submarine internet cables linking India to Singapore.

"By establishing Vizag as an international subsea gateway, we will add vital diversity from the existing landings, in Mumbai and Chennai, increasing the resilience of India's digital backbone and improving economic security," Koley added.

"New strategic fiber optic routes will further connect India with the rest of the world."

Globally, data centers are an area of phenomenal growth, fueled by the need to store massive amounts of digital data, and to train and run energy-intensive AI tools.

"This is a pivotal moment for India, Vizag, and for Google," Koley added.