Chinese language cloud suppliers are progressively increasing their presence within the Center East, difficult the dominance of established US tech firms by aligning extra carefully with native authorities priorities and rules.
Whereas Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle have operated regional information centres for a number of years, firms like Huawei, Alibaba, and Tencent are gaining traction by way of focused partnerships and companies tailor-made to regional wants. These Chinese language corporations are investing in infrastructure, coaching, and collaboration with regional telecom suppliers to strengthen their foothold.
In keeping with IDC’s Manish Ranjan, Chinese language cloud suppliers are making progress by supporting native digital transformation efforts. “Regardless of the established dominance of AWS [Amazon Web Services], Azure, and Google Cloud within the Center East, Chinese language suppliers like Huawei and Alibaba are making a major presence within the area,” Ranjan famous in feedback reported by Remainder of World.
US cloud corporations had been early entrants within the area. Amazon Internet Providers opened its first Center East information centre in Bahrain in 2019, with a second within the UAE in 2022. Microsoft launched cloud areas in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the identical yr, whereas Google Cloud entered Saudi Arabia’s Dammam area in 2023. Oracle at present operates a number of cloud zones in each the UAE and Saudi Arabia, together with a deliberate growth in Neom.
Nonetheless, Chinese language suppliers have pursued a unique technique. Huawei has partnered with telecom firms comparable to STC, E& Enterprise, du, Zain, OmanTel, and Ooredoo to assist cloud computing, AI, 5G, and sensible infrastructure. On the 2025 Cellular World Congress in Barcelona, Alan Qi, president of Huawei Cloud Center East and Central Asia, emphasised the corporate’s function in enabling digital development in Saudi Arabia. The corporate at present operates 4 cloud amenities within the nation, together with a low-latency information centre that reduces processing delays.
In March, Huawei introduced a collaboration with Zain KSA to boost community infrastructure. The corporate says it has already onboarded greater than 1,000 shoppers in Saudi Arabia by way of its Riyadh hub, together with authorities departments and monetary establishments.
Tencent entered the regional cloud market in February, pledging to speculate over $150 million in Saudi Arabia within the coming years.
Alibaba Cloud has adopted an identical path, opening information centres within the UAE in 2022 and in Saudi Arabia final yr. It additionally partnered with STC to launch the Saudi Cloud Computing Firm, designed to assist the dominion’s Imaginative and prescient 2030 technique.
Chinese language corporations have constructed partnerships with public-sector organisations and customised their platforms to assist information localisation necessities. “They’ve additionally shaped strategic partnerships with authorities entities within the area, particularly in Saudi Arabia, to make sure compliance with native information legal guidelines,” Ranjan stated in remarks reported by Remainder of World.
Synthetic intelligence has additionally grow to be a key focus. Chinese language firms suppliers have built-in AI instruments into their companies earlier and extra aggressively than their US rivals. On the Huawei World AI Summit, the corporate’s CTO, Bruno Zhang, revealed how its Arabic language fashions may save hospital diagnostic occasions in Saudi Arabia by as much as 40%—a sensible instance of AI tailor-made to native wants.
These efforts are additional supported by China’s Digital Silk Highway initiative, which fosters diplomatic ties and eases market entry for Chinese language corporations. Whereas US suppliers face scrutiny over information governance, Chinese language firms profit from high-level agreements that streamline operations and cut back regulatory friction.
For CIOs within the Center East, particularly in sectors like authorities and finance, Chinese language cloud companies current a mixture of native compliance, value effectivity, and assist. Ranjan identified—based on Remainder of World—that bundled service choices and a transparent concentrate on complete value of possession have made these platforms particularly enticing.
Kenneth Lindegaard, CIO of UAE-based agency Space42, stated that whereas cloud adoption is rising, some industry-specific workloads nonetheless run higher on conventional infrastructure. “The cloud market may be very aggressive, and there are a lot of gamers,” Lindegaard famous in feedback reported by Remainder of World. “Rules like information localisation, and many others., are dangerous as a result of there may not be a enterprise case for all of them to construct cloud information centres in all nations.”
The desire for hybrid deployments—combining cloud companies with on-premise information centres—has performed to the strengths of Chinese language corporations, which structured their regional technique round this flexibility early on.
Luis Bravo, a senior analyst at Texas-based information centre agency Hawk, noticed that technological functionality alone isn’t sufficient to achieve markets just like the Center East. “Chinese language firms are displaying that success relies upon as a lot on belief and cooperation because it does on computing energy,” Bravo stated in remarks reported by Remainder of World.
Because the cloud panorama within the Center East evolves, the competitors more and more centres on who can supply tailor-made, domestically compliant options—moderately than who provides essentially the most superior expertise. Chinese language suppliers seem to have taken that message to coronary heart.
(Picture by Unsplash)
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