DataVolt is poised to speculate $5 billion to develop a brand new 1.5 GW web zero AI campus at NEOM’s Oxagon, with the primary section anticipated to go reside by 2028.
NEOM is the deliberate metropolis that’s presently underneath building in Saudi Arabia, which guarantees a spread of facilities from a floating industrial complicated to hotspots for tourism. The plan is for the entire metropolis to be powered by renewable vitality sources, though creating a brand-new state-of-the-art metropolis in the midst of the desert comes at a value – with its estimated value reaching $1.5 trillion.
Whereas the city has been criticised for being too ambitious, and has been marred by reports of poor treatment for migrant workers, the plans will see a spread of districts, with probably the most well-known being aptly named ‘The Line’. Different areas embrace the tourism hubs of Trojena and Sindalah, in addition to the Oxagon area – which is the place DataVolt is about to put money into an AI hub – and is the beforehand talked about ‘floating industrial complicated’.
What’s DataVolt planning to construct in NEOM?
DataVolt has leased a plot of land within the Oxagon area the place it’s going to host a 1.5 GW AI-ready information centre campus that it says can be solely powered by renewable vitality. Its dedication to spend $5 billion on this challenge alone is daring, particularly considering it committed $5 billion just last year to build and operate 300 MW worth of data centres in Saudi Arabia by 2030.
Apparently, this new challenge might not have any new cash behind it over what was introduced final 12 months – as a result of reasonably conveniently the preliminary capability of the NEOM information centre is predicted to be 300 MW. The last word objective is to develop that capability within the coming years to 1.5 GW, however that can probably come lengthy after that 2030 deadline.
After all, that might imply spending the entire of its dedicated $5 billion price range in a single space, however as NEOM is the prized challenge of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it’s unsurprising to see DataVolt focus its funding there.
The corporate has additionally argued that NEOM’s deliberate deployment of renewable vitality capability makes it a beautiful funding alternative, particularly for a web zero AI campus that claims that it will likely be powered ‘solely by renewables’ – which incorporates ‘inexperienced hydrogen’. Moreover, the Oxagon is predicted to be linked to sub-sea cables supplying high-speed fibre connectivity.
Simply because it’s committing the massive bucks in the direction of NEOM doesn’t imply that the corporate isn’t additionally exploring different choices, nevertheless. In actual fact, the Saudi-based agency has additionally said that it’ll spend an extra $660 million in the direction of the development of a 55,000 sq. meter information centre within the nation’s capital of Riyadh.
Rajit Nanda, CEO of DataVolt, commented, “This settlement with NEOM and Oxagon underscores our unwavering dedication to help the Kingdom’s imaginative and prescient of turning into a regional digital and AI hub. The Kingdom’s strategic location, coupled with its considerable inexperienced vitality sources, aligns completely with DataVolt’s mission in offering state-of-the-art sustainable information centres. This challenge marks a major milestone in advancing the Kingdom’s management as a digital powerhouse within the area.”
Vishal Wanchoo, CEO of Oxagon, added, “The Kingdom is on the forefront of the worldwide vitality transition. At Oxagon, we’re accelerating a renewable vitality industrial ecosystem that’s set to energy companies with inexperienced vitality and expertise options. The settlement with DataVolt highlights the potential impression of the sustainable infrastructure Oxagon affords its tenants and units the foundations for the primary green-AI workload to come back on-stream in KSA together with the required computing energy for regional and world impression.”
