- Oracle has expanded its Abu Dhabi cloud region with the Middle East’s first Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
- It aims to support Abu Dhabi’s goal of becoming the world’s first fully AI-native government by 2027
- Oracle first opened its Abu Dhabi cloud region in 2019
Oracle has expanded its Abu Dhabi cloud region with the Middle East’s first Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Supercluster powered by Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPUs.
The move aims to speed up the development of sovereign AI across the UAE and support Abu Dhabi’s goal of becoming the world’s first fully AI-native government by 2027.
The new supercluster is one of the region’s biggest investments in advanced AI computing. It allows governments and highly regulated industries to train AI models, run simulations and carry out research within the UAE, while keeping all data inside the country to meet strict sovereignty rules.
Oracle first opened its Abu Dhabi cloud region in 2019, followed by another in Dubai. This made it the first major global cloud provider to operate two regions in the UAE. The latest expansion continues Oracle’s long-term growth in the Middle East, where it already supports key sectors such as healthcare, finance and aviation with government-grade cloud services.
Nick Redshaw, Oracle’s senior vice-president for cloud infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa, said the launch was a major step for the region. “By bringing the region’s first OCI Supercluster to Abu Dhabi, we are giving governments and enterprises access to some of the world’s most advanced AI compute capabilities, right here in-region,” he said.
Marc Domenech, Nvidia’s senior regional director for enterprise Meta, added that the partnership delivers “unprecedented compute and performance at scale”, helping Abu Dhabi achieve its vision for an AI-native government. He said the combination of Nvidia’s accelerated computing and Oracle’s secure cloud gives nations the “AI Factory” they need to innovate while keeping control of their data.
The UAE has been one of the fastest adopters of AI in government services. Abu Dhabi’s AI-native government vision builds on wider digital efforts such as fully paperless services, predictive tools to improve citizen services, secure data-sharing across agencies and more automated public-sector operations.
At events like the Dubai Airshow and Gitex Global this year, UAE officials highlighted the importance of sovereign AI and supercomputing for future aviation safety, air mobility, energy planning and national digital identity systems.
Oracle currently operates cloud regions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Jeddah, with further expansion planned in Riyadh. It is also developing dedicated sovereign cloud zones designed for government and defence use. Globally, the company aims to offer the same full-stack cloud services across more than 200 locations, whether in public clouds, private installations or at the edge.
The new supercluster gives Middle Eastern governments and companies the computing power needed to build large foundation models, sector-specific AI assistants and advanced scientific workloads—all while keeping data within the UAE. As demand for sovereign AI grows, Oracle’s early investment positions Abu Dhabi as a leading hub for AI innovation and digital government in the region.
