Saudi regulator opens consultation on Global AI Hub Law
Law targets sovereign data and digital leadership, plus data centre FDI
#SaudiArabia #policy – Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space, and Technology Commission (CST) has opened a public consultation for the draft Global AI Hub Law, aimed at strengthening the Kingdom’s role as a global leader in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. The law seeks to create a legislative environment that attracts foreign investment in advanced technologies, especially sovereign data centres and AI services. The draft version of the law is open for public feedback until Wednesday, 14 May 2025.
SO WHAT? – This law is a strategic move to ensure high standards across its AI and data infrastructure industry, and so the public consultation process is useful to both the government and the technology industry. Developed by the National Competitiveness Center (NCC), the Istitlaa public consultation platform was launched in 2021 to seek feedback from government and commercial sectors, and the general public on laws and regulations before they are approved. It has so far proved to be invaluable in helping to shape new communications and technology laws.
Here are some key details about the Global AI Hub Law:
Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space, and Technology Commission (CST) has opened a public consultation for the draft Global AI Hub Law via the Istitlaa platform. The new law is expected to enhance Saudi Arabia’s position as a global digital hub, particularly in data centres and AI services.
The draft law introduces three hosting regulation models: Private, Extended, and Virtual Centres, targeting foreign governments, international tech companies and foreign investors.
The law supports the establishment of sovereign data centres that guarantee service continuity, cross-border data sovereignty, and secure digital infrastructure.
CST is inviting stakeholders from across the public, private and investment sectors worldwide to provide input via its Public Consultation Platform.
The draft version of the Global AI Hub Law is open for public feedback until Wednesday, 14 May 2025.
The new legislation supports innovation, entrepreneurship, and R&D by aligning with international treaty frameworks and digital economy standards.
The Global AI Hub Law aims to bridge the global digital divide by promoting inclusive access to advanced technologies for peaceful uses.
The initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s geographic strategy to connect three continents and expand access to digital services globally.
Saudi Arabia ranked 2nd among G20 countries in the 2024 ICT Development Index by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The Kingdom’s ICT market reached SAR 166 billion in 2023, making it the largest and fastest growing in the MENA region.
ZOOM OUT – Saudi Arabia’s push for a clear legal framework around AI and data hosting comes amid a major national effort to scale up its data infrastructure. Since announcing a $18 billion investment plan in 2021, the Kingdom has become a hotspot for global hyperscalers like AWS, Google, Alibaba, and Oracle. These moves aim to push capacity beyond 1,300 megawatts by 2030. However, with multiple overlapping projects and stakeholders, the rollout of local cloud services remains complex. Supplementing other recent data and cloud laws and guidelines, the proposed Global AI Hub Law could provide further regulatory clarity for the fast-evolving ecosystem.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
LINKS
Read more about data centres and AI hubs in Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia launches world's largest Sovereign AI Cloud (Middle East AI News)
SambaNova to invest $140 million in Saudi infrastructure (Middle East AI News)
NEOM & DataVolt to build $5 billion net-zero AI factory (Middle East AI News)
Groq opens EMEA's largest AI compute centre in KSA (Middle East AI News)
Microsoft finishes construction for new Saudi data centre (Middle East AI News)
Gcore & Ezditek launch JV, to create AI factory in Riyadh (Middle East AI News)