When you search the internet, stream a video, or use an AI tool, your request travels to a data centre, a large facility packed with servers that store and process information. These centres are the backbone of the modern digital economy, and the world is racing to build more of them. Saudi Arabia has quietly emerged as one of the best places on earth to do exactly that.
A recent Bloomberg analysis ranked Saudi Arabia second globally, behind the United States, in terms of how attractive a market it is for data centre investment. That is a significant leap for a country that, just four years ago, had relatively modest digital infrastructure.
The United States holds the top spot for good reason. It currently accounts for 51% of all live data centre capacity on the planet, totalling 29.9 gigawatts, and controls 72% of the capacity currently under construction worldwide. Individual regions within the country operate at a scale that dwarfs entire national markets.
Virginia and Texas alone have more data centre capacity than most countries. This dominance is the product of decades of infrastructure investment, the concentration of the world’s leading AI and technology companies on American soil, and a continued flow of massive capital into the sector, even as the country’s power grid faces growing pressure. Saudi Arabia’s ranking just behind this giant is, by any measure, a remarkable achievement.
The numbers tell the story clearly. In 2021, Saudi Arabia had 68 megawatts of data centre capacity, roughly enough to power a mid-sized city district. By 2025, that figure had jumped to 440 megawatts, nearly six times the original amount. And growth has not stopped. In just the first three months of 2026, capacity climbed further to 467 megawatts, a 6 per cent increase in a single quarter. The country now hosts more than 60 data centres spread across multiple regions.
Why is Saudi Arabia so appealing to the companies building these facilities? Two factors, available power and land, account for 58% of what makes a market attractive for data centres, according to the Bloomberg analysis.
Saudi Arabia has both in abundance. Its vast geography gives developers room to build at scale and expand in stages. Its strategic location, sitting at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa, means a data centre built there can efficiently serve billions of people across three continents from a single hub.
The country’s digital foundations are also unusually strong. Saudi Arabia ranked first in the world in the “Digital Readiness Framework 2025″, scoring 94 out of 100, ahead of Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, and France. That ranking reflects stable regulations, reliable governance, and fast execution, all things that international investors need before committing billions of dollars to infrastructure projects.
The broader digital ecosystem backs this up. Internet penetration stands at 99%. Fibre-optic cables now reach 5.8 million homes. The technology market was valued at over SR199 billion, equivalent to roughly USD 53 billion, in 2025. Local internet traffic through the Saudi Internet Exchange crossed 2.462 terabits per second in the same year, a sign that the network can handle heavy, sustained demand.
Globally, 22.8 gigawatts of new data centre capacity are currently being developed and are expected to come online within the next three years. Traditional markets like the United States and parts of Europe are running into constraints, including limited land, strained power grids, and slow permitting. Saudi Arabia, by contrast, offers space, power, and speed.
Commenting on this progress, head of the Artificial Intelligence Enablement Office at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Bassam Al-Bassam, said, “This reflects the Kingdom’s growing position in the data centre sector and confirms that the progress achieved in digital infrastructure, power availability, development speed, and operational readiness has positioned Saudi Arabia among the most capable markets in attracting high-quality investments in this sector.”