Microsoft plans $10bn-plus Gulf investment with focus on resilience

Microsoft is planning to invest more than $10 billion across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait by 2030, including cloud and AI infrastructure, a senior executive said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The US tech giant is making digital resilience a key part of its strategy for the region as the Iran war rumbles on. Microsoft’s investment reflects “ongoing build-out of infrastructure and also the expansion of operations in the region,” Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we’re in fact adding to them … It’s an aggressive spending schedule,” Smith said.

Gulf countries are pouring billions into AI to become global hubs and diversify their economies away from oil and gas. But challenges remain, including access to advanced chips and the uncertainty brought by the war, including attacks on data centres such as Amazon Web Services facilities in Bahrain and the UAE, Reuters also reported.

Microsoft could not provide a breakdown of the investment by country or project, Smith said, citing security. The United Arab Emirates has been largely spared attacks since May, though other Gulf countries continue to face threats.

Microsoft also plans to invest more than $400 million in subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030, and is deepening ties with national AI firms, including Abu Dhabi’s G42 — in which it took a $1.5 billion minority stake in 2024 — alongside Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai.