UAE telecommunications giant du has announced it has signed a deal worth $544.54m with Microsoft to develop and construct a new hyperscale datacenter in the UAE.
The deal was announced onsite at Dubai AI Week, and it has been confirmed that Microsoft will be the main tenant of the new datacenter.
On LinkedIn earlier today, Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, described the deal as ‘groundbreaking’.
He wrote, “At Dubai AI Week, I witnessed an announcement from Du to launch a groundbreaking hyperscale data center, in collaboration with Microsoft. This marks a significant investment in digital infrastructure, reinforcing Dubai’s leadership in adopting the latest technologies, innovations, and digital services.”
Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO of Du, said the new partnership between the Dubai-based telecoms company, and the US technology behemoth will play a key part in their effort to ‘revolutionise’ the digital landscape across the United Arab Emirates.
“This deal represents a pivotal leap in our strategic goal to revolutionise the digital ecosystem of the UAE,” saiid Al Hassawi.
Du currently operates five data centers across the country. Earlier this year, the telco signed a deal to extend the Peace subsea cable to the UAE.
Earlier this year, Microsoft partnered with the Abu Dhabi government and Core42 for AI infrastructure and a sovereign cloud offering in the UAE.
The cloud provider has one cloud region in the UAE, which was first launched in 2019, with three availability zones across Dubai.
The company also has cloud regions in Qatar and Israel.
In December 2024, the company completed construction of its Saudi Arabia cloud region, set to go live in 2026, and in March 2025 announced plans for a cloud region in Kuwait.
