By Diana Allam – THC & Partners
White clouds are not everything. In the Middle East, where ambition combines with innovation, a data-driven transformation is unfolding at an unprecedented speed and data centres are making the region a giant in the digital world.
But behind the region’s success comes a lot of responsibilities.
Governments across the Middle East are investing billions to reshape their economies, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia putting huge-scale capital into digital infrastructure as part of their country visions. In the UAE alone, the data centre market was worth $1.2 billion in 2023, and Saudi Arabia plans to invest over $18 billion on technology infrastructure by 2030.
However, data centres use approximately 1.8% to 2.5% of global electricity, and that is increasing rapidly. In Ireland alone, for example, data centres have been projected to use nearly 30% of the nation’s electricity supply by 2030. And such is the demand, Amazon is working on building its own small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to power its data centres.
The biggest driving force of this rise? Artificial intelligence. AI workloads such as model training and generative LLMs consume 10–50 times the amount of power of regular cloud applications. As their adoption accelerates, so does the rush to power-hungry data centres to support it.
Such is the imperative, at the World Economic Forum this week, Blackstone CEO, Stephen Scwarzman, said investors aren’t concerned about all the geopolitical turmoil right now. Instead, they are increasingly focused on data centres as a challenge and an opportunity, pointing to a greater need for greener growth strategies to power the demand.
Such is the demand – it is now becoming a reputational challenge, with accusations that data centres threaten to derail climate pledges by countries and companies alike:
“AI is Eating Data Center Power Demand – and It’s Only Getting Worse” – Wired
“The rising energy demand of data centres” – Oil Review Middle East
“AI could account for nearly half of datacentre power usage ‘by end of year“ – The Guardian
This is why communications must step forward and lead with transparency and innovation, because how we act and communicate about the growth of data centres will shape public trust and ensure that the industry is not fighting to address misconceptions but rather it is supporting the energy transition through battery energy storage systems, microgrids or renewable energy sources.
How?
By acknowledging ongoing efforts to mitigate the environmental footprint of data centres:
- Make the green data real: Translate technical KPIs like PUE and WUE into simple comparison metrics (“Our improved PUE means this data center saves enough electricity each year to power 2,500* homes”) to resonate with broader media and stakeholder audiences.
- Create a Sustainability Comms Toolkit: Equip your teams with messaging templates, FAQs, and graphics that always position your environmental efforts as a business asset, not an add-on.
- Engage in industry standard-setting initiatives: Be seen at the forefront of standards through thought leadership.
- Flip the script: Frame your sustainability story not as a CSR sidebar, but as your greatest market differentiator.
Time to Own the Outcome
Let’s not only be remembered as the region that built the internet’s fortress in the desert. But the region that built it responsibly. And that legacy begins not in server rooms, but with the marketing and communication teams responsible for building trust in the sector.
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