en.Wedoany.com Reported - June 30 news, Saudi data center developer DataVolt's Riyadh East Data Center has secured a leading AI service provider as its anchor tenant, which will utilize over 80% of the project's capacity. DataVolt expects to complete nearly $500 million in project financing within three months, with bank financing covering approximately 75% of project costs.
Located in the First Technology Park in eastern Riyadh, the data center occupies approximately 55,000 square meters of land and is positioned as a high-performance data center for AI computing. DataVolt has previously entered into a land lease arrangement with MODON, the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones, planning to build facilities on this plot that can support high-density computing, serving hyperscale cloud providers, content service providers, enterprise clients, and AI workload demands. The anchor tenant's early commitment to over 80% of capacity indicates that the project has secured relatively clear computing power demand support before construction and financing, also reducing uncertainties in subsequent cabinet leasing, capacity utilization, and cash flow stability.
The anchor tenant being an AI service provider directly determines the project's load characteristics. AI data centers have higher requirements for power, cooling, networking, and cabinet power density compared to ordinary enterprise data centers.
The Riyadh East project advanced by DataVolt will primarily test Saudi Arabia's energy allocation and engineering delivery capabilities in AI infrastructure construction. Large model training, inference services, and AI cloud platform operations require stable power, high-bandwidth networks, low-latency interconnection, facility redundancy, liquid cooling or efficient cooling solutions, and ongoing maintenance capabilities. If the project secures financing close to the $500 million scale, funds will mainly support civil engineering, power supply and distribution systems, cooling systems, server rooms, network connections, security systems, and subsequent equipment deployment. Banks bearing approximately 75% of project costs also indicates that such AI data centers are beginning to possess infrastructure financing attributes, no longer being solely internal capital expenditures for tech companies.
DataVolt CEO Rajit Nanda stated that the project is expected to reach financial close within three months. After financing is completed, the Riyadh East Data Center will enter a more defined construction and delivery cycle.
Saudi Arabia is integrating data centers into its AI, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure development. DataVolt's technical approach emphasizes high availability, multi-technology energy infrastructure, green fuels, energy-efficient cooling, and scalable operational capabilities. For the Riyadh project, the key is not just building the facility, but whether it can support the long-term growth of AI clients' computing power demands. With the anchor tenant locking in most of the capacity, DataVolt needs to ensure delivery progress, power supply reliability, cooling efficiency, and operational standards; the AI service provider will focus on cabinet density, network connectivity, fault recovery, energy costs, and future expansion space. As regional enterprises, government agencies, and cloud service providers increase AI applications, the Riyadh data center is expected to become part of Saudi Arabia's AI computing power supply.
This development moves DataVolt's Riyadh project from planning to the "tenant locked + financing near completion" stage. What will truly affect the project's pace going forward will be financial close, engineering construction, equipment deployment, and the official launch date for the AI client.
