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29 March 2024

$5bn investment in data centres

Published
By Abdel Hai Mohamad
To set up data centres across the UAE and the GCC, investments of more than $5 billion (Dh18.3bn) are expected in the next three years, said Mehdi Paryavi, President and Managing Director of Tech Xact.  

Speaking to Emirates Business on the sidelines of a conference held by Tech Xact at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Paryavi said: “The UAE has the third-biggest investments in data centres in the region. It has an information infrastructure that is regarded as the best in the Middle East.”

More than 200 directors of data centres in 150 companies in the region attended the conference.

Paryavi said investments in the data centres sector have not been large over the past two years due to worldwide financial downturn.

However, there has been a move towards greater quality in the performance of many top data centres in the region in that time.

The majority of companies and banks have decided not to invest big in the sector before the financial crisis ends completely.

However, many started work on the development of their data centres several months ago.

Paryavi said the Gulf currently has thousands of data centres and there are an increasing number of companies in the region that are setting up such facilities.

Telecom companies in the UAE and region are the biggest spenders on data centres, even rivalling the spending of oil companies in such facilities.

This was because of the quick and large expansions in the telecom sector and increasing profits in it, he said.

“Our objective is to assist organisations in bridging the gap between the system generally being followed and the latest technological advancement and to achieve industry’s best practices and familiarize them with new trend,” said Paryavi.