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Multinational tech giant Oracle is doubling down on its UAE and KSA footprint, executive VP for EMEA Cormac Watters told The National. Expansion in Qatar and Kuwait is also in the cards, he said, in another sign that Western players are staying the course on the region’s AI buildout despite the war in Iran and other geopolitical instability.
Why now? Oracle cited “huge” demand for its data centers and said it has plans to set up several more over the next six months, Watters said. The firm already has a presence in the UAE, including as a partner in the Stargate UAE project. Its Saudi footprint involves infrastructure linked to Vision 2030.
Watters didn’t disclose the data center locations, citing concerns that bad actors could target them. Two AWS facilities in the UAE were struck by drones early in the Iran war.
MEANWHILE- Saudi Arabia’s GO Telecom awarded a SAR 185.9 mn (USD 49.5 mn) contract to Total Technical Triangle to build the infrastructure for an AI cloud data center, using Dell servers with Nvidia chips, it said in a stock exchange filing. GO didn’t say where the data center will be or how big it will be.
All AI, all the time
Zain Kuwait has become the first telecom operator in MENA to run end-to-end AI across its 5G-Advanced network, the company said. The move comes after Zain wrapped early tests that showed roughly 60% improvement in performance indicators such as latency, jitter, and throughput, the company said.
How it works: The new AI layer coordinates the radio and core networks in real time, shifting resources to where demand is, ensuring efficiency in connectivity.
The upgrade is backed by a 40% increase in Zain’s capex to USD 1.5 bn in 2025, equal to a fifth of revenue.
BACKGROUND- All three of Kuwait’s telecom operators launched commercial 5G-Advanced at the end of June 2025 — a nationwide build developed by China’s Huawei and local partner Knetco.
MEANWHILE- On Kuwait’s borders, Iraq is also working on its telecoms infrastructure, but from a lower base. The country’s General Company for Communications and Informatics signed an MoU with Huawei to develop its telecoms infrastructure and explore 5G development. Iraq is still operating on 4G, with plans to begin rolling out 5G service next year.