Zoom, the American company, has announced the launch of a new data center in Saudi Arabia. This move highlights the company's accelerating investments in the Saudi market and boosts its ability to offer communication, digital collaboration, and local data hosting services. It comes at a time when Saudi Arabia's digital infrastructure and AI applications are growing rapidly. This new data center was launched with official support and aims to boost digital infrastructure. It was inaugurated under the patronage of the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Engineer Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Suwayan, Governor of the Digital Government Authority, was present, along with representatives from Saudi Aramco. This aligns with the Kingdom's drive to enhance its digital infrastructure readiness and support the goals of 'Saudi Vision 2030'. The data center boasts a strategic location within advanced regional networks. It's situated inside 'center3' facilities, a leading operator of neutral data centers and submarine cable systems in the Kingdom. center3 connects networks across Europe, Asia, and Africa, which will help Zoom provide even more efficient and reliable services to government institutions, businesses, and critical sectors. This expansion is part of an extended investment in artificial intelligence. It builds on an investment plan Zoom announced last year, totaling $75 million in Saudi Arabia. A key focus of this plan is developing artificial intelligence technologies and their supporting infrastructure. This is especially timely as the Kingdom rapidly moves towards AI applications and has even designated 2026 as the 'Year of AI'. The company also aims to boost local data hosting services. Zoom emphasized that this new data center is another step in that direction. It follows the launch of their regional hub in Saudi Arabia in 2023, which allowed customers to meet local data residency requirements, especially for entities handling sensitive information or critical national infrastructure. Mohannad Al-Kalash, Vice President for the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and Pakistan at Zoom, shared that Saudi Arabia is a promising digital market and one of the most ambitious in the region. He noted that launching this new data center strengthens Zoom's ability to support its local customers and reflects their confidence in the Kingdom's journey towards a more interconnected digital economy powered by AI technologies. This announcement comes alongside a series of recent AI updates from the company, showcasing an expansion in AI solutions. These include the launch of 'ZoomMate,' an AI-powered business assistant, and the 'AI Productivity Suite,' which lets users create presentations, reports, and operational tasks directly from their digital meeting contexts. Zoom continues to expand its growing presence in the Middle East through partnerships and investments aimed at supporting the digital transformation of government institutions and the business sector. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is experiencing rapid growth in investments related to cloud computing, data, and artificial intelligence, with increasing demand for local hosting services and advanced digital infrastructure.
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