Construction works have advanced on the first phase of the planned 300MW data centre projects being implemented by Saudi-headquartered Quantum Switch Tamasuk (QST) for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT).

The project comprises six 50MW data centre facilities to be located in Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah and Neom.

The plan entails building 60MW of data centre capacity every year until 2026.

MEED estimates the budget for the entire project is at least $2bn.

The first so-called hyper-scale data centre facility is located in King Salman Energy Park (Spark), an industrial complex in Dammam.

It is understood QST will design, build, finance and operate the data centre facilities.

Client objective

“QST’s data centres will be designed and built to meet the demands of hyper-scale cloud service providers, international gaming and media platforms, and global content delivery networks, with a view to attracting them to locate their main regional hubs in the kingdom,” the company said in February when it announced the project.

The data centres will also host government digital infrastructure development initiatives including the Saudi Internet Exchange Point, a non-profit scheme spearheaded by MCIT and King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology.

QST and MCIT said the facilities will feature the latest designs to minimise cooling requirements. They also intend to develop and secure renewable energy sources to further enhance sustainability.

“This effort will create a significant demand for new green energy; both parties are actively evaluating the feasibility of connecting solar photovoltaic facilities to the data centres,” the firms said.