#Oman #datacentres - UK-founded green Power-to-X developer Yamna has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology to build a large-scale AI and hyperscale data centre in Salalah. The first phase of the project, Salalah Al Khadra Digital, is expected to exceed £1 billion ($1.3bn). It will create more than 100 skilled jobs in the UK. The signing took place during Sultan Haitham bin Tarik’s State Visit to the UK, the first by an Omani Sultan since 1982.
SO WHAT? - Oman is pitching itself as a regional AI and cloud hub, and it now has a British-backed developer and a government-level agreement to advance its ambition Yamna’s proposition combines energy with IT, so the project leans on power supply, which is what hyperscale sites need most. However, details are thin on the ground, with no capacity, tenants or timeline being announced so far.
KEY POINTS:
Yamna and Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology signed a strategic cooperation agreement to accelerate large-scale AI and hyperscale data centre infrastructure in the Sultanate.
Salalah Al Khadra Digital is a proposed AI data centre and digital infrastructure project in Salalah. The UK government says its first phase is expected to exceed £1 billion, or about $1.3 billion.
The project will create more than 100 highly skilled jobs in the UK by exporting British expertise, and it aims to deliver returns for UK-backed investors.
Yamna is a UK-founded infrastructure development and investment company backed by British investment funds. Its portfolio has two verticals: green molecules and green digital infrastructure, including power-secured data centre campuses.
The signing coincided with Sultan Haitham bin Tarik’s three-day State Visit to the UK, hosted by the King and Queen. The last Omani Sultan to make a State Visit was Sultan Qaboos in 1982.
The UK and Oman also agreed a deal to speed up two-way investment, building on the 2022 Sovereign Investment Partnership. Oman has invested £1.7bn in the UK under that partnership.
UK Export Finance will raise its financing capacity for UK exports to Oman to up to £7bn. UK exports to Oman were worth £1.1bn in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2026.
Further agreements cover maritime security cooperation, responsible AI use in education, space cooperation and the return of Chevening scholarships to Oman, with applications open from August 2027.
ZOOM OUT - The new deals announced this week build on the UK-Oman Sovereign Investment Partnership, signed in London in January 2022. The partnership agreement was made between the UK's Office for Investment and the Oman Investment Authority, with a focus on clean energy and technology. At the time, UK firms accounted for nearly 50 percent of foreign investment into Oman, and bilateral trade stood at about £1 billion a year. Early examples were Wakud, a joint venture between UK waste-to-energy firm Green Fuels and an Omani consortium, which turns used cooking oil into biodiesel at Khazaen Economic City. According to the UK government, Oman has since invested £1.7 billion in the UK under the partnership.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: UK Government, Yamna
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