Edgnex $2.3B Jakarta build; New Oracle R&D in Morocco
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!
In today’s newsletter: Edgnex’s new $2.3 billion investment in Indonesia’s data cenre market; Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund joins BlackRock, MGX and Microsoft in AI infrastructure fund; AI startup news; and carried over from last weekend news of HUMAIN and AMD’s 6GW data centre compute target and G42’s new Euro HQ!
Scroll down for these stories and more!
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Data Centres
EDGNEX to build $2.3 billion Jakarta data centre
#UAE #datacentres – Dubai’s EDGNEX Data Centers will invest $2.3 billion in a 144MW AI facility in Jakarta. Scheduled for 2026, it will be one of Southeast Asia’s largest AI hubs. (Middle East AI News)
HUMAIN and AMD to deliver 6GW of AI compute
#Saudi #datacentres – The new Saudi AI champion HUMAIN and US chipmaker AMD will invest $10 billion to deliver 6GW of AI compute by 2034. The joint venture aims to slash infrastructure costs by 30% and become the world’s most cost-efficient AI hyperscaler. (Middle East AI News)
Naver, NVIDIA to build 500MW AI data hub in Morocco
#Morocco #digitaltwins – South Korea’s Naver Corp. and US-based NVIDIA will build a 500MW AI data centre in Morocco, powered by renewable energy. The project aims to serve EMEA markets and launch operations by late 2025.
Middle East AI News
Investment
Temasek joins $100 billion AI infrastructure group
#Singapore #investment – Temasek has joined Microsoft, BlackRock and Abu Dhabi’s tech fund MGX in the $100 billion AI Infrastructure Partnership. The move underscores sovereign wealth fund interest in global AI infrastructure, following Kuwait’s Investment Authority joining the consortium last week. (Reuters)
R&D
Oracle opens 800-person tech hub in Morocco
#Morocco #software – Oracle has opened a new R&D hub in Casablanca’s CasaNearshore Park, employing 800 engineers and specialists. The centre boosts Morocco’s ambition to become a digital innovation hub. (Yabiladi)
MBZUAI and IBM launch EarthDial satellite AI model
#UAE #LLMs – Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and IBM Research have unveiled EarthDial, the world’s first vision language model for multi-spectral satellite imagery. The model outperforms existing systems by up to 32.5%, enabling natural language queries for climate, agriculture, and disaster response. (Middle East AI News)
UAE fixes global crypto validation tool flaw
#UAE #cybersecurity – Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) helped patch a critical flaw in a global encryption validation tool. A collaboration with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the fix boosts security for developers worldwide. (Middle East AI News)
Corporate
G42 opens European HQ in London
#UAE #infrastructure – Abu Dhabi’s G42 Group has launched G42 Europe & UK, headquartered in London. The subsidiary will drive sovereign AI infrastructure build-outs across Europe and develop partnerships aligned with local regulatory and compute needs. (Middle East AI News)
G42 partners with Liquid AI for edge models
#UAE #LLMs – Abu Dhabi’s G42 has teamed up with Liquid AI to build private generative AI solutions. The partnership will focus on developing edge-optimised models for global deployment across strategic sectors. (Middle East AI News)
Funding
Dubai proptech Prop-AI raises $1.5 million pre-seed
#UAE #funding – AI-powered proptech firm Prop-AI has secured $1.5 million to expand across MENA. The Dubai startup tripled revenue in Q1 2025 by automating property analysis. (Middle East AI News)
Darwinz AI raises $325K for marketing platform
#Saudi #funding– Riyadh-based Darwinz AI has secured $325,000 in Seed funding to expand its AI-powered marketing tool, dima. The firm will hire more staff at The Garage in Riyadh and pursue international growth. (Middle East AI News)
Electric Mobility
Dubai to launch robotaxi pilot by end of 2025
#UAE #robotaxis – WeRide’s first robotaxi pilot in Dubai will begin before end-2025 using autonomous vehicles booked via Uber. Safety drivers will be present during trials, in preparation for a regular service in 2026. (Middle East AI News)
EHang tests autonomous eVTOL again in Abu Dhabi
#UAE #aviation – Chinese eVTOL company EHang, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Multi Level Group conducted a new test flight of the EH216-S autonomous air taxi. EHang plans to establish manufacturing and support operations in Abu Dhabi. (Middle East AI News)
Sentiment
UAE IT leaders back agentic AI, but lack safeguards
#UAE #enterprise – The latest Salesforce State of IT study shows 80% of UAE firms plan to adopt AI agents by 2027, yet 86% cite compliance risks and 42% lack proper safeguards. Data and governance issues remain a challenge. (Middle East AI News)
Education
AI Rev and 42 Abu Dhabi launch AI agent challenge
#UAE #skills – UAE-based AI startup AIREV and coding school 42 Abu Dhabi have launched a 12-week challenge to build 42 AI agents. The initiative aims to accelerate talent development in generative AI. (LinkedIn)
MIT and Dubai school expand AI education programme
#UAE #education – Dubai Heights Academy and MIT Media Lab are expanding their AI and robotics curriculum. A new secondary campus will extend the hands-on programme to all year groups from 2025. (SchoolsCompared)
[ This newsletter was AI edited & human edited ]