Microsoft doubles down on investment in the Gulf - Semafor

Microsoft is accelerating investment in the Gulf, planning to spend at least $10 billion by 2030 to shore up the region’s digital resilience. While a drop in the bucket compared with global AI spending, the move to expand data centers and lay more subsea and overland cables for backup connectivity is a vote of confidence in a region whose tech ambitions were called into question by the Iran war. Amazon Web Services said this month it won’t restore one of its three UAE availability zones or its Bahrain network after damage from Iranian strikes.

Microsoft said it will invest in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, and deepen partnerships with national AI companies including Abu Dhabi’s G42 — in which it is an investor — and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN. Raising investment above prewar levels signals “confidence in the region’s future as it pursues one of the world’s most ambitious AI transformations,” Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post.