The United Arab Emirates Data Center Market Size, Share, Trends, & Investments By IT Infrastructure, Electrical Infrastructure, Mechanical Infrastructure, Cooling Systems, General Construction, & Tier Standard.

UAE Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2026-2031

UAE DATA CENTER MARKET SIZE & OUTLOOK

The UAE data center market size was valued at USD 2.38 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 6.70 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 18.82% during the forecast period. The UAE continues to strengthen its position as one of the most advanced and strategically important data center markets in the Middle East, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi remaining the primary hubs for hyperscale and colocation developments. The country’s sustained growth is being driven by the rapid expansion in cloud computing, accelerating digital transformation across government and enterprises, as well as its unique geographic advantage as a global connectivity gateway linking Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Global hyperscalers continue to deepen their presence in the country. Microsoft has further expanded its cloud regions and AI capabilities, while Amazon Web Services is scaling its regional infrastructure to support growing enterprise and public-sector adoption. For instance, In March 2025, Microsoft partnered with Core42 and the Abu Dhabi government to develop a sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure to support over 11 million daily digital interactions and enable fully AI-driven government services. The initiative aligns with Abu Dhabi’s $3.54 billion digital strategy to automate 100% of government processes and deploy more than 200 AI solutions.

As of Q4 2025, the industrial electricity price in the UAE ranges between $0.07 per kWh and $0.09 per kWh. It is higher than Saudi Arabia ($0.04 per kWh to $0.06 per kWh) and lower than Israel ($0.16 per kWh and $0.18 per kWh).

For green building frameworks, the UAE uses Estidama (Pearl Rating System)- Abu Dhabi, Al Sa’fat- Dubai, and UAE Fire & Life Safety Code (mandatory for all buildings). These regulate energy efficiency, water efficiency, cooling performance, and building envelope standards.

To process complex AI workloads, data centers consume vast amounts of power. Data center operators are investing in the development of data center facilities, which can offer higher IT power capacities in the UAE. In January 2026, G42 confirmed that the first advanced AI chip shipments will enable the initial 200 MW phase of the planned Stargate cluster, with a long-term roadmap to scale toward 5 GW at a rate of up to 500 MW per quarter. The deployment will be powered mainly by Nvidia systems alongside AMD and Cerebras, supported by the US export approvals and sovereign-AI security commitments.

UAE DATA CENTER MARKET - KEY HIGHLIGHTS

1. The number of data center facilities in the UAE is gradually increasing. The UAE is one of the well-developed markets in the Middle East region, and the country hosts around 37 operational data center facilities spread across several cities including Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Fujairah, and Sharjah.
2. At present, the UAE has 18 operational submarine cables; it is witnessing investment in three more submarine cables, which are expected to become operational by 2026-2027. Multiple submarine cables enable high-speed data transmission, decrease latency, as well as meet the increasing demand for broadband and cloud services, which are essential for the UAE digital economy. For instance, in February 2026, the $700 million WorldLink cable was announced; the cable is slated to connect the UAE to Turkey via Iraq, accounting for a capacity of 900 Tbps and subsequently reducing the Europe–Middle East latency to below 100 ms by bypassing the congested Egypt route. The carrier-neutral system will strengthen AI, hyperscaler, and financial-trading connectivity while reinforcing the UAE’s role as a regional digital gateway.
3. In 2025, retail colocation is projected to account for about 27% of the total market share, while wholesale colocation is expected to retain the remaining 73%. By 2031, the market share for wholesale colocation revenue is estimated to increase to over 91%, with retail colocation revenue will retain the remaining 9%.

WHY SHOULD YOU BUY THIS RESEARCH?

1. Market size available in the investment, area, power capacity, and UAE colocation market revenue.
2. An assessment of the data center investment in UAE by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators.
3. Data center investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across cities in the country.
4. A detailed study of the existing UAE data center market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about the UAE data center market size during the forecast period.
5. Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in UAE
6. Facilities Covered (Existing): 37
7. Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 21
8. Coverage: 5 Cities
9. Existing vs. Upcoming (Data Center Area)
10. Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity)
11. Data center colocation market in UAE
12. Colocation Market Revenue & Forecast (2022-2031)
13. Retail & Wholesale Colocation Revenue (2022-2031)
14. Retail & Wholesale Colocation Pricing
15. UAE data center landscape market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast.
16. A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry.
17. Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry.
18. A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspect of the market.

UAE DATA CENTER MARKET VENDOR LANDSCAPE

1. IT infrastructure providers play a critical role in supporting UAE’s high-density and cloud-driven data center ecosystem, supplying servers, storage, networking, and AI-optimized hardware.
2. Engineering firms focus on modular construction, prefabrication, and accelerated build timelines to meet tight capacity rollout schedules. Collaboration between contractors, consultants, and government authorities ensures compliance with planning, environmental, and power allocation regulations.
3. Leading Support infrastructure providers such as ABB, Airedale, Caterpillar, Cummins, Eaton, Legrand, Rittal, Schneider Electric, STULZ, Vertiv and others maintain a strong presence through local service teams, long-term maintenance contracts, and regional manufacturing hubs.
4. From an investment perspective, the UAE colocation market is shaped by several well-established operators. Key players include Core42, du, Equinix, Gulf Data Hub, Khazna Data Centers, Moro Hub, and Pure Data Centres. In addition, new entrants such as Quantum Switch Tamasuk and Volt are gaining traction, signaling rising demand for colocation capacity and more advanced, flexible data center offerings. This evolving competitive landscape encourages innovation and continuous improvement in service quality and technology deployment.
5. Khazna Data Centers is one of the major companies in the country, offering colocation services to several industries including government, telecommunications, cloud providers, and large enterprises through 12 operational facilities.
6. In addition, Gulf Data Hub currently holds the second spot, in terms of core & shell power capacity in the UAE data center market. However, the company accounts for under-developed/planned data center capacity of over 256.0 MW. Once these are operational, it will have a significant impact on market share.

EXISTING VS. UPCOMING DATA CENTERS

1. Existing Facilities in the region (Area and Power Capacity)
2. Dubai
3. Abu Dhabi
4. Other Cities
5. List of Upcoming Facilities in the region (Area and Power Capacity)
6. Dubai
7. Abu Dhabi
8. Other Cities

REPORT COVERAGE:

This report analyses the UAE data center market share. It elaboratively analyses the existing and upcoming facilities and investments in IT, electrical, mechanical infrastructure, cooling systems, general construction, and tier standards. It discusses market sizing and investment estimation for different segments. The segmentation includes:

1. IT Infrastructure
2. Server Infrastructure
3. Storage Infrastructure
4. Network Infrastructure
5. Electrical Infrastructure
6. UPS Systems
7. Generators
8. Switches & Switchgears
9. PDUs
10. Other Electrical Infrastructure
11. Mechanical Infrastructure
12. Cooling Systems
13. Rack Cabinets
14. Other Mechanical Infrastructure
15. Cooling Systems
16. CRAC and CRAH
17. Chillers
18. Cooling Towers, Condensers and Dry Coolers
19. Other Cooling Units
20. General Construction
21. Core & Shell Development
22. Installation & commissioning Services
23. Building & Engineering Design
24. Fire Detection & Suppression Systems
25. Physical Security
26. Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)
27. Tier Standard
28. Tier I & Tier II
29. Tier III
30. Tier IV
31. Geography
32. Dubai
33. Abu Dhabi
34. Other Cities

VENDOR LANDSCAPE

1. IT INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDERS: Arista Network, Atos, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei Technologies, IBM, Lenovo, NetApp, and NVIDIA.
2. DATA CENTER CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS & SUB-CONTRACTORS: AESG, ALDAR, ALEC Engineering and Contracting, Arcadis, Arup, ASU, BG&E, Black & White Engineering, CADD Emirates, Condor Group, Core Emirates, DC PRO Engineering, Edarat Group, Group AMANA, HHM Group, James L Williams, John Paul Construction, Laing O’Rourke, Laith Electro Mechanical, Linesight, M+W Group, McLaren Construction Group, Meinhardt Group, MEMA Architecture, Raghav Contracting, RED Engineering Design, Rider Levett Bucknall, RW Armstrong, Site & Power DK, STS Group, Sudlows, Syska Hennessy Group, Telal Engineering & Contracting, and Turner & Townsend.
3. SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDERS: ABB, Airedale, Alfa Laval, Caterpillar, Chatsworth Products, Cummins, Delta Electronics, Eaton, Envicool, Johnson Controls, Legrand, Rittal, Rolls-Royce, Schneider Electric, Siemens, STULZ, and Vertiv.
4. DATA CENTER INVESTORS: Core42, du, Equinix, Gulf Data Hub, Khazna Data Centers, Moro Hub, Pacific Controls, Pure Data Centres, and XDS DATACENTERS.
5. NEW ENTRANTS: Quantum Switch Tamasuk and Volt.