Desert Dragon Data Centers

Status: Under Construction (Phased Rollout) | Location: Multi-Region: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and NEOM, Saudi Arabia

Project Overview

The Desert Dragon Data Centers project, developed by ICS Arabia, is a landmark initiative designed to deliver a high-resilience, multi-region digital backbone across Saudi Arabia. This project is directly aligned with the Kingdom's Vision 2030 goals of economic diversification and digital transformation, aiming to establish Saudi Arabia as the central digital hub connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa. The development is ambitious, spanning four strategic locations: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and NEOM. This distribution ensures geographical redundancy and allows for sovereign cloud operations across the key economic and demographic centers of the country. The total capacity planned across these sites is a substantial 187 MW, representing one of the largest single contractor-led data center rollouts in the region. A key differentiator for this project is its focus on high resilience and next-generation cooling tailored for the demanding Saudi climate. The facilities are designed to meet stringent Tier III and Tier IV standards, with a commitment to maintaining high uptime even in ambient temperatures exceeding $50^{\circ} \text{C}$. The design incorporates innovative cooling solutions, including a dedicated Immersive Cooling Building for high-density, AI-focused racks, which uses dielectric fluid to reduce energy consumption by up to 45% compared to traditional air cooling. Financially, the project represents a significant investment, with a total capital expenditure of nearly $2 billion USD. The phased rollout, starting in 2026, ensures capacity comes online rapidly to meet the massive demand from hyperscale cloud providers and large enterprises requiring in-country data residency. By building a network of interconnected, high-specification facilities, Desert Dragon is helping to create the foundational infrastructure needed to power Saudi Arabia's AI and smart-city future.

Quick Facts

Field	Value
Project Name	Desert Dragon Data Centers
Location	Multi-Region: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and NEOM, Saudi Arabia
Status	Under Construction (Phased Rollout)
Commissioning	Phased, starting with initial sites in 2026
Total IT Load	187 MW
Total Capacity	187 MW
Tier Level	Tier III
Project Type	Hyperscale Colocation (Wholesale/Retail) / Sovereign Cloud Infrastructure

City Profile

Header	Details
City Name	riyadh
Population	7.7 to over 9 million
Urban Agglomeration	around 9 million people
City GDP	$428.7 billion
Per Capita Income	$42,700
City Tier	Tier 1 city
Key Strengths	Capital City, Financial/Government Hub, High Cloud Demand, Vision 2030 Focus

Companies Involved

Header	Details
Developer / Operator	ICS Arabia (Design/Build/Operate Contractor)
Strategic Infrastructure Partner	XDS Data Centres, Ladun Investment (Clients/Partners)
Construction Contractor	ICS Arabia (Main Contractor)
MEP Engineering	N/A (Internal/Proprietary Systems)
Network Connectivity	Direct connections to national fiber backbone and regional subsea cable landing points (Jeddah/Dammam)
Power Infrastructure	N+1 Redundant Power Stations (Hydrogen-ready)

Technical Specifications

Header	Details
Power Capacity	187 MW (Total)
UPS Redundancy	N/A (Tier III/IV standards imply minimum N+1 or 2N)
Cooling System	Advanced air cooling for main halls; Dielectric Fluid Immersive Cooling for high-density AI halls
Connectivity	Carrier-neutral, high-speed fiber across the Kingdom
PUE Target	1.55 (Target PUE in 50 ambient conditions)
Energy Mix	Integration of Renewable Energy (Long-term PPAs) and high grid reliability

Milestones

Header	Details
Announcement	2024 (Major capacity announcement)
Construction Start	2024
Phase 1 Go-Live	Riyadh (June 2026), Jeddah (Dec 2026)
Full Buildout	Expected by 2029

Investment Details

Header	Details
Total Investment	$1.9 Billion USD (Total Capital Expenditure)
Funding	Client/Partner Investment (e.g., XDS Data Centres, Ladun Investment)