Microsoft Plans $10B-Plus Gulf Cloud, AI Investment

Microsoft plans to invest more than $10 billion across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait by 2030, including cloud and AI infrastructure, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters on Sept. 23. It also plans more than $400 million for submarine and terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure in the Middle East by 2030. Smith said Microsoft is sustaining investments planned before the Iran conflict began February 28 and adding to them, calling it an aggressive spending schedule. The firm supported local partners with digital resilience assessments from the conflict's first week and is working on readiness and critical data protection. Attacks on data centers have included Amazon AWS facilities in Bahrain and the UAE; the UAE has been largely spared since May while other Gulf countries still face threats. In 2024 Microsoft invested $1.5 billion for a minority stake in Abu Dhabi-based G42, with Smith holding the board seat. It works with Saudi Arabia's Humain and Qatar's Qai in selected priority areas and plans no capital investments in those firms. A separate report put Microsoft's UAE commitment at $15.2 billion for 2023-2029, with $7.9 billion for 2026-2029. Microsoft has not disclosed a breakdown of Gulf funding by country or project, citing security considerations.