Data Center World Middle East to Make UAE Debut in November 2026
Data Center World will hold its first Middle East edition in the UAE capital on 17–18 November, bringing together government representatives, data centre operators, technology providers and investors involved in developing the region’s digital infrastructure.
Organised by inD, an Informa/DWTC company, Data Center World Middle East will take place at Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi. The event follows the expansion of the conference series into Australia, Latin America and Europe in 2026, amid growing demand for data centre capacity driven by artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and increasing data consumption.
The programme will include representatives from the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the UAE Ministry of Investment, alongside companies including Khazna Data Centers, Core42 and Tabreed. Technology companies AWS, Google, Oracle and NVIDIA are also among those featured in the event’s line-up.
The event comes as data centre development accelerates across the Middle East. Omdia, the technology research and advisory group within Informa TechTarget, estimates that the region added 1GW of new data centre IT capacity in 2025, with capacity growing at an annual rate of nearly 25%.
Energy efficiency is also becoming a priority as operators expand capacity. The UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and Khazna Data Centers have launched a pilot project aimed at reducing energy consumption in data centres and district cooling systems. The technology involved is claimed to reduce cooling-related energy consumption by up to 40%.
Eng. Mozah Alnuaimi, Chief AI Officer at the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, who will speak on the opening panel, said, “Every megawatt saved in cooling is a megawatt of compute the grid does not have to build for. In our climate, water efficiency and energy efficiency are the same discipline: liquid cooling, closed-loop systems, and clear intensity requirements. Through the Global Cooling Pledge and the Ministry’s planning tools, we are treating data centres as a national efficiency opportunity, not only a load, so growth in AI strengthens the system rather than strains it.”
The UAE is pursuing plans to increase the digital economy’s contribution to gross domestic product from 9.7% to 19.4% over the next decade. In Abu Dhabi, the Department of Government Enablement’s AED 13 billion digital strategy aims to achieve full migration to sovereign cloud infrastructure as part of a plan to establish an AI-native government by 2027. The initiative includes a Unified Government Data Centre.
Khazna is also developing G42’s 1GW Stargate UAE cluster with partners including OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco and SoftBank. Power infrastructure for AI workloads will be another focus of the event. Sean James, Distinguished Engineer – Energy Systems at NVIDIA, said, “AI load does not behave like the load utilities planned for. I watched other markets pay for that lesson. Hundreds of megawatts moving in seconds is a power quality problem before it is a capacity problem. Solve it inside your own fence, with storage and controls. The same batteries that smooth your load can hand the utility ride-through and voltage support back. Then the interconnection conversation shifts from whether to when.”
Tara Gibb, Senior Event Director for Data Center World, said, “Data Center World goes where the industry is building, and the Gulf is now one of its most important growth markets. For the first time in the region, the operators building Gulf capacity, the hyperscalers and two federal ministries share one programme. The programme moves from market outlook to closed-door technical workshops, so delegates leave with clear priorities and the right contacts to move their projects forward.”
The first day will open with a panel examining the challenges associated with the Gulf’s 3GW target for AI infrastructure, power and sovereign computing demand. A Market Outlook 2030 session will assess investment and development opportunities across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.
The wider programme will include keynote presentations, conference sessions and technical tracks, alongside closed-door workshops covering AI data hall design and cooling and electrical infrastructure for AI workloads. The sessions will address the operational requirements of running data centres in temperatures reaching 50°C.
Midea Building Technologies, the building and data centre cooling division of Midea Group, is the headline sponsor. Marwan AlObaidi, Regional Director – Data Centers & Applied Systems, will be among the speakers. Enover and E-kerno are Gold Sponsors, while Endress+Hauser is a Silver Sponsor.
