Oracle to Invest US $1.5 Billion to Meet Cloud Computing Demand in Saudi Arabia

To meet the growing demand for its cloud services, Oracle today announced plans to open a third public cloud region in Saudi Arabia. Located in Riyadh, the new cloud area will be part of Oracle’s $1.5 billion investment plan to expand its cloud infrastructure capabilities in the Kingdom. The Oracle Riyadh Cloud Region will join the existing Oracle Jeddah Cloud Region and the planned Oracle Cloud Region will be located in the future city of NEOM.

The investment is part of a memorandum of understanding Oracle signed with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to help Saudi companies take advantage of the latest cloud innovations. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed during the recent visit of Oracle CEO Safra Catz to Riyadh in the presence of Mr. Eng. Haitham AlOhali, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).

To quickly meet the needs of its growing cloud business in Saudi Arabia, Oracle will also expand its capacity in the Oracle Cloud Jeddah region.

“In the last century, Saudi Arabia transformed its economy by developing the infrastructure needed to produce, refine, process and transport hydrocarbons. This century we are committed to creating the digital infrastructure that will underpin future economies,”
“Oracle’s decision to expand its cloud computing capacity in the Kingdom will play a key role in unlocking the opportunities that rapid technological advancements are creating. MISA will continue in its quest to enable the building of a robust digital infrastructure, by creating an attractive environment for these investments—for example, by establishing special economic zones that are tailored to particular industries such as cloud computing and digital transformation.”
His Excellency Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment.

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, Oracle will also work with MCIT and the Information and Communications Technology Commission (CITC) to establish a business and operating model for an additional cloud region in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia complies with Saudi government requirements and local data storage regulations. Oracle will also partner with MCIT to help accelerate the growth of the cloud computing industry in Saudi Arabia.

Unique among hyper-scale providers, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) offers customers the choice of OCI deployment based on regulatory, data storage, or latency requirements. The OCI Distributed Cloud includes public areas, its dedicated sector, Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer, its multi-cloud services, and the recently announced Oracle Alloy.

“Oracle’s investment will rapidly accelerate the cloud transformation across Saudi Arabia’s business and public sector,”
“Oracle Cloud delivers pioneering innovation in technologies like AI, Machine Learning, and IoT, and it will help fuel the economic growth and digital transformation that is an integral part of the Saudi Vision 2030.”
Richard Smith, Executive Vice President, Technology – EMEA, Oracle.