The Middle East’s data centre market is fast-growing with a lot of natural advantages – geographical hub status, extensive subsea connectivity, a young population, and growing economies. Datacloud Middle East is a dedicated event within Capacity Middle East that will take a close look at what’s driving the region's data centre market and where the challenges might come – here’s what you can look forward to on the agenda in 2025.
How do data centres drive the Middle East market in general?
One of the most important growth factors for the Middle East in general is a surging data centre market. The region’s data centre market capacity is expected to double in size between now and 2030, driven by multi-tenant data centre requirements.
This means the Middle East has potential to leapfrog other data centre regions by building out facilities designed purely with AI in mind – a task more difficult in more mature, saturated markets – and by integrating sustainable operations.
Another factor to consider, and which will also be on the agenda, is the future of cloud storage in a world with more and more data sovereignty regulations – how will this affect where data centres need to be built and (for the colocation market) which customers they can host?
Finally, there is the question of what needs to happen in subsea to meet data centre demand. Facility locations are diverging thanks to AI reducing latency needs and also from operators following power rather than fibre, and this means suitable connectivity between subsea cables and also terrestrially is more important than ever.
Given the long lead times for submarine cables to get on the seabed, is there enough submarine cable capacity coming on stream to connect all these data centres? Both of these topics have their own dedicated sessions on the Capacity Middle East agenda.
Sessions to watch:
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Keynote: How are Data Centres changing connectivity in the region?
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Can the Middle East leapfrog more advanced data centre regions?
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How is efficiency driving sustainable data centres?
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What is the future of cloud storage?
Messaging potential, and will eSims become a thing?
The Middle East’s young population means business messaging is particularly promising – but how is the market developing? Sessions will look at the evolution of messaging in general and business messaging, focusing on A2P and RCS developments in particular. There is also eSims – if adoption of the technology reaches critical mass, how will telcos respond and can regulation keep up?
Sessions to watch:
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How are eSim’s changing the travel landscape and what are the strategic implications for telecom operators?
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Evolution of messaging: A market overview
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What is the future for A2P?
Ensuring hub status: subsea, peering, and international routes
For the data centre market to develop in the way it needs to and meet connectivity demands, the data has to get to the data centre in the first place. And given the Middle East’s crossroads position, international interconnectivity is a vital part of this.
The Capacity Middle East agenda looks at several factors here, including how the industry reacted to the Red Sea cable cuts, the importance of peering, whether subsea cable maintenance is keeping up with demand, and plenty more. There is also the question of route diversity – with the Suez route more vulnerable than ever, how realistic are the alternatives?
Sessions to watch:
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Is subsea cable maintenance and management meeting demand?
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Improving latency: Should the Middle East have peering in every country?
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Red Sea cable cuts: A look back and review of how the industry recovered
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International expansion: Connecting beyond the Middle East
Is the Middle East AI ready?
AI is occupying a lot of headspace around the world. Network operators and telcos are wrestling with how to build out capacity to handle an expected boom in traffic. But AI demand is currently highly imbalanced – 75% of AI investment is in the US and just 10% in Asia and Europe combined.
There is headroom to grow - but is the Middle East AI ready? The Capacity Middle East keynote chat show will dive into the topic, looking at the factors that make the Middle East a potential AI hub and how operators themselves can harness AI to run more efficient networks.
Sessions to watch:
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Keynote Chat Show: Is the Middle East AI ready?
Regional spotlights: Iraq, India and Africa
The Middle East’s hub status means that what happens in neighbouring and nearby markets is of vital importance for the health of the connectivity sector. This is why Capacity Middle East’s agenda moves the focus onto several specific markets – Africa, which could offer potential route diversity from the Middle East to Europe, and India, which has huge cellular activity but underdeveloped fixed network infrastructure. Within the Middle East, there is also a session focusing on Iraq – a vital market for building non-Suez route diversity.
Sessions to watch:
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The growth of India’s connectivity market
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Spotlight: Iraq
As well as these areas, there are sessions planned on topics including gaming, NaaS, optical networking, cybersecurity, AI nativeness, network resilience, and plenty more – see the full agenda here.