AWS Invests $5.3bn in Saudi Arabia, Launches Cloud Region
Amazon Web Services has announced it will launch an AWS infrastructure Region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2026 as part of plans to invest US$5.3bn in the country.
Reflecting AWS’s long-term commitment to meeting high demand for cloud services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East, AWS says the new region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs and enterprises – as well as healthcare, education, gaming and nonprofit organisations – greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centres located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ensuring that customers who want to keep their content in-country can do so.
“Today’s announcement supports the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation with the highest levels of security and resilience available on AWS cloud infrastructure, helping serve fast-growing demand for cloud services across the Middle East,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “The new AWS Region will enable organisations to unlock the full potential of the cloud and build with AWS technologies like compute, storage, databases, analytics, and artificial intelligence, transforming the way businesses and institutions serve their customers. We look forward to helping Saudi Arabian institutions, startups, and enterprises deliver cloud-powered applications to accelerate growth, productivity, and innovation and spur job creation, skills training, and educational opportunities.”
“The partnership with AWS and their announcement of an AWS Region, backed by a US$5.3bn investment, ignites a new era of technological excellence and innovation for the Kingdom,” said His Excellency Engineer Abdullah Alswaha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Minister of Communications and Information Technology. “This cloud region demonstrates a firm commitment to research, innovation, and empowering entrepreneurs to achieve prosperity for our region and the world.”
The new AWS Region will consist of three Availability Zones at launch, adding to the existing 105 Availability Zones across 33 geographic regions globally. With its latest announcement, AWS has plans to launch 18 more availability zones and six more AWS regions in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. AWS Regions consist of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations.
AWS offers the broadest and deepest portfolio of services, including analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), compute, database, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning (ML), mobile services, storage, and other cloud technologies. Customers from startups to enterprises to public sector organisations and nonprofits will be able to use advanced technologies from the world’s leading cloud to drive innovation, meet data residency preferences, achieve lower latency, and serve demand for cloud services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East.
Organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are among the millions of active customers using AWS in more than 190 countries around the world. Enterprises in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia choose AWS to innovate, drive cost efficiencies, and accelerate launch time. Organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that choose AWS to run their workloads to accelerate innovation, increase agility, and drive cost savings include Abdul Latif Jameel, Almarai, Almosafer, Al Naghi Group, Jahez, Mobily, Red Sea Global, Saudi Telecom Group, Seera Holding Group and more.
******
Make sure you check out the latest edition of Data Centre Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Tech & AI LIVE 2024
******
Data Centre Magazine is a BizClik brand
