du and Microsoft to launch $544M AI data centre in UAE

du and Microsoft Partner to Launch $544.5M Hyperscale AI Data Center in UAE

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC, known as du, has teamed up with Microsoft to develop a massive hyperscale data center in the UAE valued at 2 billion dirhams (approximately US$544.5 million). The project was officially revealed during Dubai AI Week and will be rolled out in multiple phases. Microsoft will be the primary tenant of this state-of-the-art facility, which will be du’s sixth data center and solidify the UAE’s position as a developing regional center for data infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

The partnership supports the UAE’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which aims to create an economic value of US$96 billion by 2030. The country’s growing AI ecosystem, which is expected to reach a market value of approximately US$46.33 billion during the same period, is expected to be built on top of such hyperscale data centers.

The data center market across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is experiencing rapid expansion, with growth forecast to reach nearly US$9.5 billion by 2030, up from US$3.48 billion in 2024. du’s investment comes amid fierce competition between global cloud service leaders such as Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle, and regional players such as Gazna, Equinix and Gulf Data Hub.

Environmental sustainability is likewise becoming more and more significant in this industry. New structures, like the Khazna data center in Ajman, are being equipped with energy-efficient cooling technologies to handle high-performance AI workloads with little harm to the environment.

The UAE is advancing AI-driven innovation in vital sectors like finance, logistics, and smart city development while strategically leveraging partnerships and infrastructure investments like this one to shift from a traditional resource-based economy to a modern data-driven economy.