Saudi companies NEOM and DataVolt have signed an agreement to establish the region’s first net-zero AI factory campus in Oxagon, the industrial hub of NEOM giga project located in the Kingdom's north west region.

DataVolt, an international developer, investor and operator of data centres, will make an initial investment of $5 billion in Phase 1, which is expected to become operational by 2028. 

Oxagon will lease DataVolt the land for the development of the facility, which will be entirely powered by renewable energy.  

The 1.5-gigawatt (GW) factory will integrate a wide range of computing densities and energy-efficient architectures to address the global challenges posed by traditional data centres.

Vishal Wanchoo, CEO of Oxagon, said the agreement with DataVolt sets the foundations for the first green-AI workload to come on-stream in the Kingdom along with the necessary computing power for regional and global impact.

Rajit Nanda, CEO of DataVolt, added that the Saudi Arabia's strategic location, coupled with its abundant green energy resources, aligns with DataVolt’s mission in providing state-of-the-art sustainable data centres.

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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