Oracle boosts UAE cloud capacity fivefold as GCC embraces AI

Oracle is increasing its capacity in UAE hubs, such as Abu Dhabi, by fivefold as the GCC accelerates its adoption of cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

This is according to Richard Smith, Oracle’s executive vice president for technology in EMEA, who was speaking to Gulf Business along the sidelines of the Oracle CloudWorld Tour in Dubai this week.

Oracle is in the process of adding significant infrastructure, including GPUs, to its data centres in the UAE capital Smith said. The company further expects demand to keep pace with its expansion.

“In the Middle East, the appetite for cloud growth and AI capabilities is phenomenal,” Smith told Gulf Business.

He noted the region’s transformative agendas, including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE’s national goals. He also emphasised that these initiatives have galvanised focus and driven rapid advancements in digital infrastructure.

The surge in AI adoption is also reshaping the technology landscape across the region.

“AI adoption in the Middle East and Africa is among the fastest globally,” Smith said, attributing the trend to transformative governmental agendas.

Oracle is positioned to support this demand with its deep AI partnerships, including collaborations with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta, and its extensive AI infrastructure.

The switch to sovereign cloud

The GCC’s shift towards sovereign cloud solutions has been a key driver of Oracle’s growth. The company’s Alloy platform is designed to meet the region’s data sovereignty requirements, ensuring sensitive data remains within national borders.

“Oracle has signed several sovereign agreements, including with STC in Saudi Arabia, du in the UAE, and others in Bahrain and Kuwait, to deliver high-end Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services through our Alloy platform,” Smith said.

These agreements allow organisations to manage and protect sensitive public sector data while accessing over 100 cloud services tailored to regional needs.

In the UAE, telecommunications giant du is leveraging Oracle Alloy to provide sovereign AI services and cloud capabilities to business, government, and public sector clients.

The telecom company’s deployment of Alloy enables it to run these services from its own UAE-based data centres, giving its customers greater control over operations, location, and security. The platform also allows du to accelerate the adoption of AI technologies, such as machine learning and generative AI, in the public sector.

“Ultimately, the Middle East’s strong demand for sovereign cloud solutions is driven by political structures and transformative agendas,” Smith added, underscoring the importance of balancing modernisation with data security.

From on-premise to modern cloud infrastructure

Many GCC organisations are transitioning from on-premise systems to modern cloud solutions, Smith said.

“Many customers here already run Oracle applications on-premise, and transitioning to Alloy helps modernise while meeting sovereignty requirements,” he told Gulf Business.

This shift allows organisations to move from static environments to dynamic cloud platforms that receive regular updates, including incremental AI capabilities. Bahrain, for example, is using Alloy to modernise its systems while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.

Global tech investments signal AI’s future

Smith’s comments around the growing demand for AI in the region come amid some of the world’s most prominent names in tech pledging to inject $500bn into building artificial-intelligence infrastructure in the US earlier this week.

The joint venture, known as Stargate, is led by OpenAI and global tech investor Softbank. Oracle and UAE tech investor MGX are also equity partners in the venture.

As part of the plan, new AI data centres are set to be built in the US.

“The past year has been an explosion of AI innovation and adoption. For Oracle, AI isn’t new: we’ve been in machine learning and data for 47 years,” Smith said.

“Data has always been at the core of AI, and we’ve developed systems like the autonomous database, which is self-provisioning, self-orchestrating, and self-repairing.

“What has changed is the intelligence in both software and hardware, enabling us to process petabytes of data and use natural language querying to make decisions. This goes beyond tools like ChatGPT, enabling deep data understanding and insights. AI is a burgeoning area of growth, and Oracle is at the forefront, from building capacity to deploying advanced hardware and generative AI layers,” he concluded.