In a landmark move, Khazna Data Centers and NVIDIA have announced a high-impact collaboration to build cutting-edge AI factories across the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Europe. The announcement signals a powerful alignment between one of the largest hyperscale data center providers in the region and the global leader in accelerated computing.
The partnership aims to address one of the most pressing needs in today’s digital economy—scalable, efficient, and AI-optimized infrastructure. These AI factories are more than just large server rooms—they are purpose-built to support artificial intelligence workloads at industrial scale.
This announcement couldn’t come at a better time. With the AI revolution in full swing, governments, businesses, and tech innovators are urgently seeking powerful digital infrastructure to train and deploy next-generation AI models. The Khazna-NVIDIA partnership answers that call with a strategic, bold, and future-focused blueprint.
AI Factories: The Future of Infrastructure
Under this initiative, Khazna will deploy new data centers equipped with AI compute halls up to 50 megawatts (MW), with individual clusters scaling up to 250 MW, and a total planned capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW) across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kenya, Türkiye, France, and Italy.
What makes these AI factories different is their optimization for NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell architecture—a breakthrough in GPU design tailored for large-scale AI applications like deep learning, generative AI, and real-time inference. Each facility will meet NVIDIA’s AI-ready certification standards, ensuring that power, cooling, density, and security are designed to deliver maximum performance for GPU-based computing.
These are not cookie-cutter data centers. Instead, they are AI-first, ready for hyperscale training and inference tasks across various industries—from autonomous vehicles and genomics to logistics and climate modeling.
Why This Matters: The AI Race Is Global
As countries around the world race to secure AI leadership, infrastructure is becoming a deciding factor. You can’t build AI models without vast compute power. You can’t run generative AI platforms, natural language models, or autonomous systems without GPU-heavy infrastructure—and that’s exactly what this partnership delivers.
The move echoes a larger trend, where nations are forming public-private alliances to create “AI-ready” infrastructure. In the UAE, for instance, the 5 GW AI campus—a major UAE-US joint initiative—stands to benefit directly from the Khazna-NVIDIA partnership. Khazna is already deploying multiple AI-ready halls for this campus, dramatically boosting the UAE’s regional and global AI profile.
NVIDIA’s backing adds credibility, technical depth, and global standards to Khazna’s infrastructure build-out. In short, this isn’t just an investment in machines—it’s an investment in the future of digital economies.
Vision from the Top: Humanizing the Mission
For Hassan Alnaqbi, CEO of Khazna Data Centers, the initiative goes far beyond business metrics. “We believe the world is entering a new era of AI-driven progress,” he said during the partnership announcement. “Our goal is to build infrastructure that’s not just powerful, but meaningful—designed to enable innovation, uplift economies, and solve real-world problems.”
That sentiment reflects the partnership’s broader human-centric approach. By scaling AI infrastructure, Khazna and NVIDIA aren’t just chasing tech milestones—they’re laying the groundwork for future education, jobs, healthcare systems, and societal transformation.
Whether it’s enhancing regional cloud capabilities, powering AI research labs, or supporting startups, these factories will help democratize access to high-performance AI tools—tools that were once only available to Big Tech giants.
The Technical Edge: Why NVIDIA Certification Matters
Each Khazna facility developed under this partnership will meet NVIDIA’s rigorous AI factory specifications. These specifications include:
- Optimized power and cooling for high-density GPU clusters
- Redundant, scalable infrastructure for mission-critical reliability
- Rack-level customization for maximum computational efficiency
- Reduced latency and high-throughput design for real-time AI inference
This plug-and-play infrastructure drastically reduces time to market for AI developers and enterprises. Instead of spending months on setup and integration, clients will get certified AI environments ready to train models, run simulations, or scale applications instantly.
Moreover, NVIDIA’s involvement ensures alignment with evolving AI workloads. As new GPU models, software stacks, and APIs emerge, Khazna’s facilities will be able to support them seamlessly.
Broadening the Regional Footprint
While the UAE will remain the core launchpad, the strategic vision includes significant geographic expansion. Key locations being scoped for upcoming AI factory rollouts include:
- Saudi Arabia: Driven by Vision 2030, the Kingdom is investing heavily in tech infrastructure.
- Egypt: Emerging as a digital hub for North Africa.
- Kenya: Seen as a strategic digital entry point into Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Türkiye, France, and Italy: Supporting the European AI ecosystem and regulatory landscapes.
This multi-country approach allows Khazna to scale efficiently while supporting local ecosystems, governments, and partners with contextually relevant infrastructure.
The Economic Multiplier Effect
Beyond infrastructure, the Khazna-NVIDIA alliance is expected to have major economic and social impact:
- Job Creation: From construction and engineering to AI research and data science, the AI factory network will stimulate new employment opportunities across the region.
- Skills Development: Universities, training programs, and startups can benefit from access to real-world AI environments.
- Investor Confidence: As the region proves it can host advanced AI infrastructure, more international capital and partnerships are likely to follow.
- Ecosystem Uplift: Local startups, SMEs, and even governments gain a powerful foundation to build their own AI platforms, applications, and services.
A Stepping Stone to AI Sovereignty
For countries in the MEA region, this initiative represents a path toward AI sovereignty—the ability to create, deploy, and control national AI systems independently. This is especially crucial in sectors like defense, finance, energy, and public health, where sensitive data and decision-making tools must remain within national borders.
Khazna’s growing footprint combined with NVIDIA’s infrastructure know-how positions the region to build AI capabilities at scale—without depending entirely on foreign data centers or cloud providers.
Media and Industry Buzz
The announcement quickly attracted wide coverage, signaling strong interest from both media and industry insiders. Backlinks and announcements were featured on:
- Reuters: Highlighting the partnership’s scale and global relevance
- Capacity Media: Emphasizing hyperscale and AI-driven infrastructure goals
- Aletihad News: Focusing on the regional technology uplift
- TechX Media and LinkedIn: Amplifying local engagement and business traction
These platforms reflect not only the credibility of the initiative but its perceived importance in the future of AI development across the MEA region.
Looking Ahead: What’s Next?
The road ahead for Khazna and NVIDIA is clear and ambitious:
- Short-term (6–12 months): Completion of initial AI halls in the UAE and Kenya
- Mid-term (12–24 months): Rollout in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Türkiye
- Long-term (2–5 years): Full realization of 1 GW AI-ready capacity
- Ongoing: Expansion of training programs, partnerships with AI labs, and rollout of customer-ready clusters
This roadmap positions the MEA region not as a follower but as a front-runner in global AI infrastructure development.
Final Word
The Khazna-NVIDIA partnership marks a defining moment in the AI infrastructure landscape of the Middle East and beyond. With unmatched scale, a future-proof technical blueprint, and a deeply human mission, these AI factories aren’t just data centers—they’re engines of transformation.
As the AI era accelerates, this alliance ensures the region won’t just participate—it will lead.
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