KUWAIT CITY, May 31: Kuwait ranks last among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of the MEED magazine’s list of ongoing data of planned and unanchored projects, as the value of projects under implementation is $18 million, and planned and unanchored projects are worth $25 million, reports Al-Anba daily. The UAE ranked first with projects under implementation worth $746 million, and others planned and unanchored at a value of $433 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with $329 million and $368 million, respectively.

In this context, the magazine quoted the Emirati company, Khazna Data Center, as saying that the huge demand for data is expected to lead to the expansion of data centers around the world, and that the company plans to build up to 20 data centers in the Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabia markets.

Without specifying the number of data centers that it plans to establish in the two countries, the UAE said it intends to announce these expansion plans later this year. Entering the Kuwaiti market is part of UAE’s plans for regional expansion, and comes on the heels of the company’s recent entry into the Egyptian market, where it plans to build a $250 million state-of-the-art data center in Cairo’s Maadi Technology Center.

The company told MEED that specific details of its expansion plans “will be published in due course.” As the largest hyperscale network in the MENA region, the company is constantly evaluating market opportunities to expand operations, including hyperscale joint ventures, with investors in the region and broader markets in response to demand for digital IT infrastructure. For this reason, Khazna Data Center has set ambitious plans to expand its regional presence outside the United Arab Emirates to include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.