With a 480MW Facility, Saudi Arabia Becomes the World’s Largest Government Data Center
The launch aligns with Saudi Arabia’s data center ambitions, along with the rising focus on ensuring the Kingdom’s technical sovereignty over data and diversifying non-oil revenue sources.
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[Image source: Chetan Jha/MITSMR Middle East]
On January 2, 2026, Saudi Arabia announced the launch of Hexagon Data Center in Riyadh. Touted as the world’s largest government data center, the center will be a cornerstone project of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 by supporting a capacity of 480 MW, spanning over 30 million square feet.
Aimed at leveraging advanced technologies to support the country’s developmental sectors, the operations will be guided by the strategy of the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), under the leadership of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
The launch aligns with Saudi’s data center ambitions, along with the rising focus on ensuring the Kingdom’s technical sovereignty over data and diversifying non-oil revenue sources.
Notably, Saudi ranks well across global indexes, including in the Global AI Index’s government strategy.
Classified as Tier V, the highest international standard for reliability, the Hexagon Data Center will see the integration of renewable energy as a sustainable power source, becoming one of the world’s largest green data centers built to LEED Gold standards. It has also received the Tier IV certification, the highest global standard for data center reliability, guaranteeing fault tolerance and an operational availability of 99.995%.
The center will act as a foundation for a nationwide network of interconnected facilities, under SDAIA, to meet the growing needs of national digital infrastructure services.
Now with Hexagon in its portfolio, SDAIA aims to generate a cumulative local economic impact exceeding $2.67 billion (SAR10 billion), along with annual financial savings of over $480 million (SAR1.8 billion) for the Kingdom’s data centers ambitions.
The Middle East data center market size is expected to grow from $3.05 billion in 2025 and to $6.29 billion by 2030.
