The National reported on 29 October that Oracle is opening more data centres in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where it already operates four cloud regions. Cormac Watters, Oracle’s executive vice president of applications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, discussed the expansion at Oracle AI World in Las Vegas. He said the company had added a couple of data centres over the preceding six months and expected more in the next six months, citing demand for AI workloads.
Oracle’s existing cloud regions are in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Riyadh. The company had previously announced plans for a facility at Saudi Arabia’s Neom megaproject. Oracle’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business is growing fastest in the Middle East, The National reported.
Watters said customers were putting data sovereignty at the start of their discussions with Oracle. He described a “digital embassy” option under which a sovereign cloud could be moved physically to another country after a disaster while retaining its sovereignty. Such an arrangement is possible, he said, but banks would need regulatory approval.
