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

The logo of Microsoft at the 10th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair in Paris, France, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Microsoft ⁠is planning to invest more than $10 billion across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi ⁠Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait between now and 2030, includingin cloud and AIinfrastructure, a ‌senior executive said on Wednesday.

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 both its "ongoing build-out of infrastructure and also the ​expansion of operations in the region," Vice Chair and President ⁠Brad Smith told Reuters.

Gulf countries are ⁠pouring billions into AI as they strive to become global hubs to help diversify their ⁠economies ‌away from oil and gas, betting that land abundance and access to cheap energy will lurehyperscalers, includingMicrosoft.

However, challenges remain in areas including access to advanced chips andthe uncertainty ⁠brought by the war, including attacks on data centres such ​as Amazon cloud unit ‌AWS's facilities in Bahrain and the UAE.

"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," said Smith.

He said Microsoft had supported local partners during the conflict, including with digital resilience assessments, even in the first ⁠week of the conflict, which began on February 28.

Microsoft is now working to help the Gulfcountries in areas such as readiness and critical data protection as part of a digital resilience initiative.

It could not provide a breakdown of the planned ⁠investment by country or specificproject, Smith said, citing factors including security.

While the UAE has been largely spared attacks since May, several other Gulf countries have continued to face threats.

Microsoft also plans to invest more than $400 million insubsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

It ​is also strengthening its partnership with national AI companies, including Abu ⁠Dhabi's G42, in which Microsoft invested $1.5 billion for a minority stake in 2024, giving the US ​firm a board seat currently filled by Smith.

Microsoft is ‌working with Saudi Arabia's Humain and Qatar's Qai "in ​selected areas that are priorities for them," he said, noting that it does not plan capital investments in the firms.

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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2026年6月18日，在法国巴黎举行的第十届VivaTech科技创业与创新博览会上，微软的标志亮相。（路透社/冈萨洛·富恩特斯摄）

迪拜，9 月 23 日（路透社）——一位高管周三表示，微软计划从现在到 2030 年在阿拉伯联合酋长国、沙特阿拉伯、卡塔尔和科威特投资超过 100 亿美元，其中包括云计算和人工智能基础设施。

随着伊朗战争持续发酵，这家美国科技巨头正将数字化韧性作为其在该地区战略的关键组成部分。

微软副董事长兼总裁布拉德·史密斯告诉路透社，微软的投资既反映了其“持续的基础设施建设，也反映了其在该地区业务的扩张”。

海湾国家正投入数十亿美元发展人工智能，力图成为全球中心，以帮助其经济摆脱对石油和天然气的依赖，并押注丰富的土地和廉价能源将吸引包括微软在内的超大规模企业。

然而，在一些领域仍然存在挑战，例如获取先进芯片的途径，以及战争带来的不确定性，包括对数据中心（例如亚马逊云服务 (AWS) 在巴林和阿联酋的设施）的攻击。

史密斯说：“我们正在维持冲突爆发前计划的所有投资，而且实际上我们还在增加投资……这是一个积极的支出计划。”

他表示，微软在冲突期间一直支持当地合作伙伴，包括进行数字韧性评估，甚至在冲突爆发的第一周（2 月 28 日）也是如此。

作为数字韧性计划的一部分，微软目前正致力于帮助海湾国家提升应对能力和关键数据保护等方面的能力。

史密斯表示，由于安全等因素，无法提供按国家或具体项目划分的计划投资明细。

虽然阿联酋自五月以来基本未受袭击，但其他几个海湾国家仍面临威胁。

微软还计划到 2030 年在中东地区投资超过 4 亿美元用于海底和陆地连接。

微软还在加强与各国人工智能公司的合作，包括阿布扎比的 G42 公司。微软已向 G42 投资 15 亿美元，于 2024 年获得其少数股权，从而使这家美国公司获得一个目前由史密斯担任的董事会席位。

他表示，微软正在与沙特阿拉伯的Humain和卡塔尔的Qai在“他们优先考虑的特定领域”开展合作，并指出微软没有计划对这些公司进行资本投资。

（费德里科·马乔尼报道；亚历山大·史密斯编辑）

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