IDCA and the Saudi Government Discuss Digital Economy in Washington DC

Washington, DC – October 1, 2024 – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Minister of Communication and Information Technology met with the IDCA management in New York City, San Francisco and subsequently the delegation was hosted by IDCA in Washington DC on October 1st.

IDCA Chairman and CEO Mehdi Paryavi said, “With the visionary and effective leadership of his Royal Highness, MBS, access to abundant sources of inexpensive energy, and transformative reforms that are taking place in the Kingdom, through our collaborative efforts, Saudi is set to become a major player in harboring immense amount of compute and data.”

His Excellency, Abdullah Alswaha, the Minister earlier met with IDCA Chairman and both parties discussed the urgent need for the emerging markets to step up and capture the immediate need for data center capacities, specially on the AI-frontiers. His Excellency, Haytham AlOhali, the Vice Minister discussed how KSA can leverage its energy resources and existing digital infrastructure footprint through thorough precise planning, to meet the needs of the AI wave that is currently driving massive new development worldwide.

Saudi Arabia is currently approaching 100,000 total racks deployed in a few dozen large data centers throughout the Kingdom. Its data center footprint today uses about 1% of its installed electricity grid to power these facilities (compared to about 2.8% in the United States).

Beyond its petroleum resources, Saudi Arabia has enormous solar-energy potential, as well as the ability to build new nuclear-power plants to make the grid more robust and sustainable. “The sky is truly the limit for the KSA to create one of the world's top AI center hubs and destinations,” according to Strukhoff, Chief Reseach Officer of IDCA.

Worldwide demand for AI-driven data services is projected to drive an AI data center construction boom over the next several years. Industry research shows as much as 260GW of new AI center capacity coming online by 2030, which is many times a current global data center footprint that's approaching 50GW. IDCA Research project an investment of at least US$3.1 trillion will be required to meet this skyrocketing demand.

Enormous new electrical power grids will also be required to keep up with the projected AI center demand. The world's current data centers consume about 2.8% of the electricity grid of the United States, and around 1.5% worldwide. Demand would reach as much as 12% of the global grid by 2030 in the absence of new power sources,” noted Paryavi. “The global Digital Economy is ramping up and will bring vast new benefits to societies on every continent, but the power to sustain these economies must be put in place.”

About IDCA
International Data Center Authority (IDCA) works to create Digital Economies through the standardization of the approach, selection, design, feasibility, operation, and various processes and methodologies of digital Infrastructure and related processes and systems.

The global IDCA team works with its partners and affiliates worldwide to achieve the optimum delivery of its advanced services locally and effectively at every project. IDCA is represented in more than 40 countries and active globally in North America, South America, Western Europe, Middle East, Eastern Europe, West Africa, North Africa, East Africa, Central, and South Africa, South East Asia, and Asia Pacific.