Design under way for Saudi gigawatt-scale data centre project
27 February 2025
Design work is expected to start imminently for a gigawatt-scale data centre project in Saudi Arabia, which a project sponsor says will be designed and built to meet Tier 4 standards.
Riyadh-based Built Industrial Company, represented by its general manager, Mohamed Naser, and Shaker Consultancy CEO, Ismael Shaker, signed an agreement for the design and construction supervision of the planned data centre in the summer of last year.
According to an industry source, Built Industrial Company is one of the project sponsors. This implies the presence of other partners that may include a government entity or a global hyperscaler, or both.
The planned data centre facility will have multiple locations and could reach or exceed 1GW of IT load capacity, added the source.
According to the US' Uptime Institute, a Tier 4 data centre has several independent and physically isolated systems that act as redundant capacity components and distribution paths, allowing higher fault tolerance when equipment fails or an interruption occurs in the distribution path compared to lower-tier data centre facilities.
Several planned data centre projects in Saudi Arabia entail multiple locations.
In a joint venture with Shanghai-based Lumaotong Group and China Mobile International, Riyadh-headquartered data centre developer ICS Arabia plans to invest a total of $1.9bn across three locations in Saudi Arabia. However, these data centre facilities, known as Desert Dragon, are expected to achieve a Tier 3-level certification.
Related read: GCC’s top five data centre projects.
In March 2024, US-headquartered Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched a plan for a new AWS Region in Saudi Arabia in 2026 as part of its long-term commitment to invest more than $5.3bn in the kingdom.
The planned AWS Region in Saudi Arabia will comprise three availability zones, or a data centre infrastructure in separate and distinct locations “far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity, but near enough to provide low latency for high availability applications”.
In May 2023, Saudi sovereign vehicle, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), also teamed up with US-based infrastructure investor and asset manager DigitalBridge to develop data centres and related digital infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and across the GCC states.
The new partnership aims to support the growth of the digital economy in Saudi Arabia and the GCC region. They said the partnership will initially prioritise investments in the data centre sector and then explore other segments of digital infrastructure in the future, including macro towers, fibre, small cell and edge infrastructure.
DataVolt is also planning several data centre projects in Saudi Arabia, including a 1.5GW renewable energy-powered facility in Oxagon, Neom's industrial cluster. The project's initial phase is expected to require $5bn of investment.
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The request for qualifications (RFQs) was issued by the municipality’s Sewerage and Recycled Water Projects Department (SRPD).
The bid submission deadline is 26 February.
The first scheme under the package is TF-16-C1, which involves upgrading and rehabilitating the stormwater system east of the Dubai Canal.
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READ THE FEBRUARY 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDFSpending on oil and gas production surges; Doha’s efforts support extraordinary growth in 2026; Water sector regains momentum in 2025.
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Modon tenders Ras El-Hekma construction contracts
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Abu Dhabi-based developer Modon Holding has tendered several contracts as part of the first phase of development at Ras El-Hekma, a planned new city on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
MEED understands that the tenders were issued in January.
These include:
DP3 assets: covering 146 residential villas, 590 three-bedroom townhouses, 356 four-bedroom townhouses, a mall and other associated works.
Bids due on 23 February.
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DP7 assets: 120 five-bedroom villas, 230 seven-bedroom villas, 284 branded residential units and other infrastructural works.
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Modon has accelerated development works at Ras El-Hekma this year. In January, MEED reported that Modon Holding had awarded a E£15bn ($316m) contract for the construction of a project at Ras El-Hekma.
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In September, MEED reported that Modon Holding had tendered contracts for the infrastructure works for the first phase of the Ras El-Hekma project.
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Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB) has provided €58m in credit facilities to local firm Elsewedy Electric for the construction of a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant in Hungary.
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AD Ports Group will also invest AED141m ($38.4m) in the joint venture.
The signing ceremony was held at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority headquarters in Aqaba on 5 February.
The agreement was signed by Hussein Safadi, CEO of ADC, and Ahmed Al-Mutawa, regional CEO of AD Ports Group.
Aqaba port handles about 80% of Jordan’s exports and 65% of its imports.
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In 2025, the terminal handled over 5.3 million tonnes of cargo and nearly 85,000 car equivalent units of Ro-Ro imports.
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The announcement followed AD Ports Group’s signing of a shareholders’ agreement in January 2024 between its digital arm, Maqta Gateway, and Jordan’s Aqaba Development Corporation regarding their existing joint-venture company, Maqta Ayla.
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Chinese firm wins Ceer automotive supplier park deal
6 February 2026
Beijing-headquartered Metallurgical Construction Corporation (MCC) has won a contract to undertake the steel structure works on the Ceer automotive supplier park in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).
The supplier park is located next to Ceer’s electric vehicle (EV) production facility in KAEC.
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