Damac $20b US data centre plan; Groq readies Saudi AI cluster

Middle East AI News weekly digest...

Good morning!

Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!

It seems that the New Year is now in full swing with lots of news across government, investment, startup ecosystem and deep tech. In fact, watch the website, because there’s more news on the way today!

The biggest media coverage this week followed the announcement by President-elect Donald Trump that DAMAC’s data centre company would invest $20 billion in US data centre operations. However, this was also the week that Alat and Lenovo confirmed that the $2 billion investment announced in May last year was completed, And work is well underway to ready the new Groq AI data centre in Saudi Arabia for launch. The word is that the hardware is now installed and the inferencing service could go live during the next few weeks!

Scroll down to read all the news!

Wishing everyone all the best for 2025!

/Carrington

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Data Centres

EDGNEX to invest $20 billion in US data centres

#USA #FDI - EDGNEX, the Dubai-headquartered real estate giant DAMAC’s data centre arm, will invest $20 billion in the US over four years, aiming to deploying 2,000 MW in capacity. The plan was announced by President-elect Donald Trump and DAMAC founder Hussain Sajwani, at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. Initial focus areas will be America’s Sun Belt and Midwest. (Middle East AI News)

Groq readies massive new Saudi data centre for launch

#Saudi #inference - Groq delivered a Boeing 747 full of AI hardware for its new AI data centre in Saudi Arabia during December and has been working hard to build and configure the new centre. Launched in partnership with Aramco Digital and expected to be the world’s largest AI data centre, the new hub will offer 25 million tokens-per-second of compute by the end of Q1. (Middle East AI News)

Investment

Lenovo and PIF finalise $2 billion partnership

#Saudi #manufacturing - Lenovo and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)-owned Alat completed a $2 billion investment agreed in May 2024. The investment paves the way for the opening of Lenovo’s regional headquarters in Riyadh and a new facility to manufacture millions of PCs and servers annually. (Lenovo)

Funding

MilkStraw AI raises $600K for cloud optimisation

#MENA #funding - UAE-based MilkStraw AI secured $600,000 in a pre-seed round led by Flat6Labs to expand its cloud cost optimisation tools across MENA. The startup focuses on optimisation for AWS infrastructure. (Middle East AI News)

LLMs

Libra AI launches safety leaderboard for LLMs

#UAE #leaderboards - Abu Dhabi-based LibrAI, in collaboration with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), has released a safety evaluation leaderboard for LLMs, aiming to address critical safety issues in AI development and promote responsible innovation. (Middle East AI News)

45% of UAE firms use LLMs, study finds

#UAE #LLMs - Research by Astra Tech and MIT Sloan Review Middle East reveals 45% of organisations in the region already use large and small language models (LLMs and SLMs), with 28% in deployment phases. 43% report that users can construct complex queries using Gen AI tools. (MIT Sloan ME)

GenAI

DEWA adopts Generative AI with Microsoft Copilot

#UAE #GenAI - Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) will integrate Microsoft Copilot to improve efficiency and customer service as part of its strategy to adopt Generative AI across all operations. (Middle East AI News)

Deep Tech

New report highlights 43 Saudi deep tech startups

#Saudi #deeptech - A new report by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Hello Tomorrow identifies 43 high-growth deep tech startups in Saudi Arabia, with 50% focused on AI and IoT technologies, signaling strong potential for innovation in the Kingdom. (Middle East AI News)

KACST graduates 46 deep-tech startups from KVP

#Saudi #startups – King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has marked the graduation of 46 startups from its Venture Program (KVP), which is run from The Garage at KACST. (SPA)

Energy

Oman’s largest private cloud ERP launched

#Oman #cloud - Energy group OQ has deployed RISE with SAP, marking Oman’s largest private cloud ERP system implementation. This milestone shifts OQ’s core operations to a private cloud platform. (Times of Oman)

Banking

AI boosts Moroccan bank performance by 30%

#Morocco #applications - AI adoption has cut operational processing times by 30% across Morocco’s top three banks and increased customer satisfaction by 20%, according to a study by Mohammed V University in Rabat. (Morocco World News)

Tourism

Iran establishes AI division for cultural heritage

#Iran #digitalgovernment - Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts will create an AI division to enhance cultural preservation and boost the global presence of Iranian handicrafts. The move aligns with a government-wide mandate for ministries to establish AI units. (Tehran Times)

Hackathons

AI-powered digital tourism wins Oman hackathon

#Oman #hackathon - The Darbek team’s AI-driven digital tourism project clinched first place in Oman’s South Al Sharqiyah Hackathon, while second place went to Env AI for its smart garbage bin concept. Third place was awarded to a water conservation system using IoT sensors. (Oman Observer)

AI Policy

GCC is currently a patchwork of AI policies

#GCC #policy - A report by Bird & Bird highlights differences AI regulations across GCC countries, making the region a patchwork of policies. Some nations are developing comprehensive AI strategies, while others adopt incremental approaches, reflecting varying national priorities. (Lexology)

Education

Egypt’s Talent Academy trains 15,000 in AI fields

#Egypt #training - The National Telecommunication Institute, in partnership with Huawei, completed its first AI training program under the Egyptian Talent Academy, aiming to train 15,000 youth in advanced technologies, including 5G and cloud computing, over five years. (TechAfrica News)

AVs

Five entries advance to final stage of RTA self-driving challenge

#UAE #AVs - Five consortiums advance to final stage of the 4th Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport, an autonomous vehicle compettion run by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority. The consortium are: WeRide / Deutsche Bahn; BrightDrive / eVersum / Shiptec / SeaBubbles; Orcauboat / PIXMOVING / Heriot-Watt University Dubai; SURAA / Arti; and Zelos from Singapore. (Zawya)

Dubai unveils AI-powered unmanned rescue boat

#Dubai #maritimerescue - Dubai Police is set to launch Haddad, a self-driving, AI-powered rescue boat by Q1 2025. The vessel, designed to safeguard the emirate's coastline, features cameras, sensors, and AI systems for mapping, object detection, and real-time communication with rescue teams. (The National)

Marketing

AI First newsletter debuts for marketers

#AIFirst #marketing - The first issue of AI First, Carringon Malin’s new monthly newsletter for executives and marketing professionals is out. The newsletter focuses on AI’s role in transforming marketing and consumer behaviour. (LinkedIn)

[ This newsletter was AI edited & human edited ]