GCC Data Center Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

GCC Data Center Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The GCC Data Center Market is expected to register a CAGR of 3.7% over the forecast period 2021 to 2026. Etisalat, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Khazna, Khazna, Gulf Data Hub, and Datamount are notable investors. Managed services continue to govern the GCC data center services market, where colocation has gained improved traction in the last few years. Hyperscale data center providers add to market growth through cloud investments in GCC countries that include Oracle, AWS, IBM, and Microsoft.

Key Highlights

• Stringent data protection laws are likely to drive the market in the region. Saudi Arabia revised its cloud computing regulatory framework in 2019. There is an increasing contribution from the expanded deployment in AI, IoT, and machine learning workloads. For instance, according to Bahrain FinTech Bay, the contribution of AI stood at approximately 8.2% of its GDP.
• Major oil companies in GCC are searching means to include smart technology in their oilfields. They implement big data and analytics technologies, control systems, and sensors,. According to ArabNet, the GCC region represented about 45% of the total number of digital investment deals made in the MENA region in 2018. About 635 total investments were made in the GCC region in 2018.
• Initiatives such as Dubai Vision 2021, Saudi Vision 2030, and New Kuwait Vision 2035 are likely to aid in the growth of cloud, big data, and IoT services. Smart city drives in countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia highlight the importance of data in improving communication between citizens, cities, electronics, automobiles, and devices, thus boosting the data center market growth.
• The Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities in Abu Dhabi in 2018, had started the pilot phase of the five-year plan for Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence (2018 – 2022) named Zayed Smart City Project. The project will manage the infrastructure by using information technology and the internet of things, consequently encouraging market growth.
• As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia advances toward becoming the technology hub for the region, the country predicts that cloud computing will grow by 25% by 2022. These findings were announced over the second edition of Microsoft Transform 2018, organized by the Microsoft Saudi Arabia for fostering the latest digital trends, consequently stressing the need for data centers in the regions.
• However, due to COVD-19, data center services and support services have affected the GCC countries. The current crisis due to the pandemic may see work volume increase for many of the contracts in the short term as firms need to use service partners to support homeworking arrangements.

Key Market TrendsIT & Telecom to Hold a Dominant Position in GCC Data Center Market

• The IT and telecom sector is a significant market for Data Center in the GCC countries, due to the high rate of various technological adoptions, increased frequency of confirmation of the BYOD policy (to make business operations much more comfortable and controllable), and increased need for high-end security due to the rapidly increasing data among the organizations. Datacenter services have become a popular demand for operators to address a complex and competitive environment in the Council.
• In 2019, the Blockchain and IoT technologies created new opportunities for Data Center providers in the GCC countries. These services providers are increasingly acquiring essential skillsets for innovative technologies like AR, VR, and AI. Besides, an increasing number of organizations in the United Arab Emirates are seeking out specialized IT service providers to manage their IT infrastructure, thus stressing the market growth.
• The telecom industry has observed a massive increase during the past few years. According to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (UAE), in December 2019, the total number of fixed-line subscriptions has reached 2.3 million in the United Arab Emirates, and in January 2019, the number of mobile subscriptions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amounted to 217.9 subscriptions per hundred inhabitants. The total number of active mobile subscriptions in the UAE reached around 18.37 million subscriptions.
• The growth of managed services in the region have also encouraged the growth of data center services. For instance, ASPGulf is one of the oldest local managed service providers in the United Arab Emirates. It provides security services, hosting, and cloud services to the organizations, thus, providing substantial cost-saving on infrastructure cost and IT skills. Due to its long-term partnership with Microsoft, it has become a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider and supports organizations using MS cloud services, such as office 365 and Azure.
• Keeping this in mind, in April 2019, Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) expanded its portfolio of security services in Saudi Arabia. It launched a new suite of managed security services to assist organizations regarding monitoring, incident handling, threat detection, and management of cybersecurity risks. According to the company, these services provide proactive and comprehensive security monitoring of network devices, endpoints, cloud, and more environments.

Growing Demand for Cloud Computing Provides a Boost to the Market

• The past 12 months have seen accelerated growth of cloud computing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as suppliers rush to set their footprints. Oracle and Microsoft launched datacentres in the country in 2019, adding to existent UAE centers offered by SAP and Alibaba Cloud. Amazon Web Services (AWS) also revealed its first Middle Eastern datacentre in nearby Bahrain in July 2019.
• SAP is the modern front-runner in the Middle East race with three centers in the region in Riyadh, Dubai, and Dammam, while Oracle opened its primary datacentre in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi in February to give cloud storage to customers across the region. In a show of earnest intent, Oracle is set to open two more datacentres in the United Arab Emirates and two in Saudi Arabia within 2020.
• Meanwhile, Microsoft brought online its first datacentre regions in the Middle East in June 2019, opening one in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Comparatively, a smaller firm, Alibaba Cloud, cloud computing division of the Chinese eCommerce giant, opened its first regional datacentre in Dubai in 2016.
• Upcoming Expo 2020 Dubai will give companies opportunities to experiment with cloud projects. The event, which will run on SAP to optimize processes and costs, is anticipated to deliver personalized experiences for 25 million visitors and 192 participating countries.

Competitive Landscape

The GCC Data Center Market is moderately competitive and consists of several major players. In terms of market share, few of these players currently dominate the market. Many firms of the market are constructing facilities that would support their businesses for a long time and are also creating a scope for future restoration. The market is reliant on the mechanical and electrical infrastructure approved by data center operators for the construction of new facilities and the repair of subsisting ones.

• June 2020 - Injazat, a UAE-based provider of digital transformation, innovation, and managed services, has launched a new security operations center, expanding its cyber defense capabilities and portfolio of services, providing Mubadala and its group of companies protection against data breaches and cyberattacks.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned
 
Arista Networks, Inc.
Atos SE
Broadcom Inc.
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Dell Technologies Inc.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
IBM Corporation
Lenovo Group Limited
NetApp, Inc.
ALEC Engineering & Contracting LLC.
Injazat Data Systems LLC
Harinsa Qatar Inc.
Eaton Corporation Inc
Turner & Townsend

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