SPA
- Contract with DataVolt for 1.5GW centre
- $21bn of deals at conference so far
- Computer factory in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion futuristic giga-project Neom has signed a $5 billion deal to develop what it claims will be the world’s first fully sustainable data centre.
The agreement was signed with the Saudi IT and technology company DataVolt. The data centre will be located at Oxagon, with the first phase having a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts and being operational from 2028.
The deal was the highlight of investment contracts worth $7.5 billion signed during the second day of Leap, the state-backed technology conference taking place in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh this week.
On the first day of the conference, deals worth almost $15bn were announced, including the development of a new Lenovo computer factory in Riyadh.
The other deals announced on Monday include a separate agreement signed by Saudi technology company Alfanar to build data centres. It will invest $1.4 billion to develop four data centres with a combined capacity of 88 megawatts.
The Saudi telecoms group Mobily pledged to invest $911 million to develop infrastructure in the kingdom, including submarine cables.
The US tech company Zoom Communications agreed to invest $75 million in artificial intelligence projects in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia Railways signed a $51 million deal to install fibre optic cables, while the German company SkyFive agreed to invest $100 million in non-terrestrial communications networks.
The Leap conference, which is running in Riyadh from Sunday until Wednesday, is sponsored by the Saudi government in an effort to support the technology sector and economic diversification away from oil.