On June 19, Nvidia signed a deal with Ooredoo during the TM Forum event in Copenhagen to deploy its advanced AI technology across Ooredoo’s data centres in five Middle Eastern countries. This initiative will provide Ooredoo’s business-to-business (B2B) clients with direct access to cutting-edge AI capabilities, significantly enhancing their ability to develop and implement generative AI applications.
The deployment will occur in Ooredoo’s data centres across Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait, and the Maldives. This collaboration aims to give Ooredoo’s clients advanced AI and graphics processing technology, allowing them to deploy better generative AI applications that give them a competitive edge. By integrating Nvidia’s AI technology, Ooredoo’s clients could be 18 to 24 months ahead of their competitors regarding technological capabilities.
Ooredoo is investing $1 billion to expand its regional data centre capacity by 20-25 additional megawatts, on top of its current 40 megawatts, with plans to almost triple this capacity by the end of the decade. The specific Nvidia technology to be installed will depend on availability and customer demand, as Washington curbs the export of Nvidia’s most sophisticated chips to the Middle East.
This deal marks Nvidia’s first large-scale launch in a region where the U.S. has restricted the export of advanced AI chips to prevent Chinese firms from bypassing regulations. Ooredoo has also recently carved out its data centres into a separate company and plans to do the same with its undersea cables and fibre network.
