DUBAI - Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings , will launch an internet data centre in Bahrain by the end of 2021, Bahrain said on Monday.

The memorandum of understanding Tencent signed with Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB) is part of Bahrain's efforts to become a regional cloud computing hub, to diversify its economy and to create jobs.

Amazon Web Services launched in the small Gulf state of Bahrain in 2019.

The EDB said in a statement the data centre would be Tencent Cloud's first public cloud infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

(Reporting by Lisa Barrington, editing by Louise Heavens) ((lisa.barrington@thomsonreuters.com;))