Amazon Web Services (AWS) has unveiled plans to launch a new infrastructure region in Saudi Arabia by 2026, with an investment of more than $5.3billion.
The move aims to support the Kingdom’s digital transformation and meet growing demand for cloud services in the Middle East. The new region will offer services such as analytics, artificial intelligence, compute, and storage, catering to various industries including healthcare, education, gaming and nonprofits.
AWS will establish two new innovation centres and investment will include upskilling students, local developers, and the next generation of local talent at any stage in their career with access to cloud computing skills, including training programmes for women and partnerships with educational institutions.
Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of infrastructure services at AWS, said: “We look forward to helping Saudi Arabian institutions, startups and enterprises deliver cloud-powered applications to accelerate growth, productivity, and innovation and spur job creation, skills training, and educational opportunities.”
The new AWS region will consist of three ‘Availability Zones’ at launch, adding to the existing 105 zones across 33 geographic regions globally. AWS has plans to launch 18 more zones and six more AWS regions in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
!The partnership with AWS and their announcement of an AWS region, backed by a $5.3billion investment, ignites a new era of technological excellence and innovation for the Kingdom,” His Excellency Engineer Abdullah Alswaha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Minister of Communications and Information Technology, also added. “This cloud region demonstrates a firm commitment to research, innovation, and empowering entrepreneurs to achieve prosperity for our region and the world.”
