Infobip opens sovereign data centre in KSA for AI workloads
In-Kingdom infrastructure targets data residency rules in regulated sectors
#SaudiArabia #datacentres – Global AI-first omni-channel marketing platform Infobip has opened a new sovereign data centre in Saudi Arabia. The data centre will allow enterprises and government organisations across the Kingdom to deploy and run AI workloads locally without transferring data beyond national borders. The facility directly addresses tightening national data residency and regulatory requirements across regulated sectors, including government, finance and healthcare. The new data centre will also manage the latency and reliability challenges that arise when AI compute resources and sensitive data are hosted outside the region.
SO WHAT? – As Saudi Arabia accelerates its AI and digital transformation agenda, data sovereignty has emerged as a non-negotiable requirement for government bodies and regulated enterprises. Infobip’s decision to invest in dedicated in-Kingdom infrastructure aligns with global tech leaders who are committing to a local infrastructure footprint. Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle and others are all ramping up their national data centre capabilities to be able to provide sovereign AI cloud services to Saudi customers.
Here are some key points about the new data centre:
Croatia-headquartered global AI-first omni-channel marketing platform Infobip has opened a new sovereign data centre in Saudi Arabia, enabling AI workloads to be deployed and processed entirely within the Kingdom, ensuring data remains hosted locally and meets strict national data residency and regulatory compliance requirements.
The facility targets enterprises and government organisations in highly regulated sectors including government, finance, healthcare and large enterprise, where data sovereignty, security and regulatory compliance are increasingly non-negotiable operational requirements.
The new data centre also addresses the latency and reliability challenges that arise when AI services and sensitive data are hosted outside the region. The facility will provide low-latency, high-performance sovereign AI compute and storage infrastructure within Saudi Arabia’s borders.
Infobip describes the facility as a strategic necessity rather than merely a regulatory convenience, particularly in the context of regional uncertainty, where locally hosted infrastructure can provide operational continuity and resilience during crises.
The launch is part of the continuing expansion of Infobip’s existing Saudi presence, having first established a collocated data centre in Riyadh in May 2024 and officially launched local operations in June 2024.
The investment signals Infobip’s long-term commercial ambitions in Saudi Arabia, enabling faster and more reliable AI-driven responses across conversational channels and customer engagement services.
Infobip’s platform is designed to reach over seven billion mobile devices across six continents through more than 10,000 connections including 800 direct operator connections, providing the global communications scale that underpins its enterprise AI and customer engagement services.
ZOOM OUT – This week’s sovereign data centre launch is the latest step in an accelerating Infobip’s business in Saudi Araba. The company formally launched its Saudi Arabian operations in June 2024 and opened its first Riyadh data centre, a collocated facility designed to host and process data within the Kingdom. That initial establishment secured the foundational licenses and regulatory certifications required to operate in the Saudi market, including an SMS licence, and introduced Infobip's full portfolio of omnichannel communications, contact centre, chatbot and customer engagement solutions to local businesses and public sector organisations.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]