Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies has announced opening of a cloud data center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of its efforts to expand its online services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This move will support government services for the kingdom and facilitate the development of AI applications and language models in Arabic. Huawei’s president for the region, Steven Yi, emphasized that establishing the cloud data center will benefit Huawei and serve as a gateway for other Chinese companies to enter Saudi Arabia.
The move aligns with Saudi Arabia’s strategy to encourage foreign companies to have regional headquarters in the kingdom. Huawei is currently the fifth-largest player in the global cloud services market. The company stated earlier this year that it plans to invest $400 million in the Saudi Arabia cloud region over the next five years.