The second day of Leap 2025 saw the signing of agreements worth some USD 7.5 bn, with a strong focus on building out Saudi’s data center capacity, state news agency SPA reports.

DataVolt wins big: Riyadh-based data infrastructure and analytics firm DataVolt signed a USD5 bn agreement with Neom’s industrial city Oxagon to set up a fully sustainable AI data center with an initial capacity of 300 MW capacity, eventually ramped up to 1.5 GW. The company also signed an agreement with the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (Modon) to set up a 55k sqm data center in Riyadh, with a SAR 2.5 bn ticket.

Datavolt’s center is part of a bigger push by Modon, as it inked 7 agreements and contracts worth SAR 6.4 bn, including 4 data centers which will span a total area of 275k sqm, it said in a post on X. Partnerships included a SAR 2.6 bn data center with homegrown Ezditek, and a SAR 1.3 bn data center with UAE-based Gulf Data Hub.

Even more investments in data centers: Alfanar is to invest USD 1.4 bn in establishing 4 data centers at a total capacity of 88 MW, according to a post on X. Meanwhile, Mobily will invest USD 905 mn to establish AI data centers with a 39 MW capacity, as well as submarine cables connecting Saudi to Africa and Europe. US-based Zoom is also investing USD 75 mn in the Kingdom’s AI landscape, including setting up data centers servicing local companies and government entities.

IN CONTEXT- The Kingdom is putting out the welcome mat for more local data centers, and is currently hashing out a regulatory framework that would grant data centers protection status akin to that of embassies in a bid to tempt more global players to relocate their data centers to Saudi.

More highlights from Leap’s day two:

  • Saudi Arabia Railways is investing USD 51 mn in fiber optic network services;
  • PIF’s Saudi Entertainment Ventures (Seven) signed a strategic agreement with Tawal to develop and operate neutral digital infrastructure across Seven's 21 entertainment destinations;
  • Aster DM Healthcare launched its digital healthcare app myAster in the Kingdom.
  • Vodafone Business IoT is joining forces with Mobily to bring IoT connectivity services to the Kingdom;
  • Colleges of Excellence and Zain KSA signed an MoU on developing academic and training programs.

ICYMI- Leap’s day one saw USA 14.9 bn in tech investments unveiled, including a USD 1.5 bn agreement between Groq and Aramco Digital to launch the world’s largest AI inference node in the Kingdom, and breaking ground on Lenovo’s manufacturing hub backed by a USD 2 bn investment from PIF tech arm Alat.

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