Tencent Cloud is planning to expand its data centre presence in the Middle East as part of a broader strategy to grow its cloud business beyond China.
In an interview with CNBC, Tencent Cloud CEO Dowson Tong said the company intends to increase the number of availability zones for its cloud services over the next 12 to 18 months. While expansion will also take place across Asia Pacific and Europe, Tong confirmed that the Middle East will see increased investment and a stronger partnership network, though no specific timelines or financial details were disclosed.
Tencent Cloud currently operates one availability zone in Saudi Arabia, serving customers such as international food delivery firm Keeta and several gaming companies.
The announcement comes amid a surge in regional data centre activity. Ooredoo’s data centre spin-off Syntys, which operates 26 facilities across Qatar, Tunisia, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq, recently acquired two additional data centres in Qatar from hyperscale operator Q Data QFZ. In Bahrain, Batelco by Beyon signed a strategic agreement with Qareeb Data Centers to develop what is positioned as the country’s first edge data centre.
In Saudi Arabia, stc group formed a strategic joint venture with PIF-owned AI company Humain to build AI-focused data centres. This was followed by a financing framework agreement of up to $1.2 billion between Humain and Saudi Arabia’s National Infrastructure Fund to support the expansion of AI and digital infrastructure.
At GITEX Global 2025 in Dubai, UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla Bin Touq highlighted the need for AI to become a core pillar of government spending. During the same event, du launched an AI Park in Dubai, planned to be deployed over five years, featuring liquid-cooled hyperscale data centres designed to deliver up to 1GW of capacity for AI workloads.
Analyst firm Kearney estimates that the Middle East’s data centre market is experiencing rapid growth, driven by national digital strategies such as Saudi Vision 2030, UAE Vision 2031, New Kuwait 2035, and Digital Oman 2030. The firm projects that the number of data centres in the region will double between 2025 and 2030.
