Andrew Mills
DOHA (Reuters) – Nvidia (NASDAQ:) has signed an agreement to deploy its artificial intelligence technology in data centers owned by Qatari telecoms group Ooredoo in five Middle Eastern countries, Ooredoo’s CEO told Reuters.
The agreement marks Nvidia’s first large-scale launch in the region, where Washington has restricted exports of sophisticated American chips to prevent Chinese firms from using the Middle East as a backdoor to access the latest artificial intelligence technology.
This will make Ooredoo the first company in the region to be able to provide its data center customers in Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait and the Maldives with direct access to Nvidia’s artificial intelligence and graphics technologies, Ooredoo said in a statement.
Providing this technology will allow Ooredoo to better help its customers deploy generative AI applications, said Nvidia senior vice president of telecommunications Ronnie Vasishta.
“With this agreement, our b2b customers will have access to services that their competitors probably won’t have for another 18 to 24 months,” Ooredoo CEO Aziz Alutman Fakhru told Reuters.
The companies did not disclose the cost of the deal, which was signed on the sidelines of the TM forum in Copenhagen on June 19.
Ooredoo also did not disclose what type of Nvidia technology it will install in its data centers, saying it depends on availability and customer demand.
Washington is allowing some Nvidia technology to be exported to the Middle East but restricting exports of the company’s most sophisticated chips.
Ooredoo is investing $1 billion to increase its regional data center capacity by 20 to 25 megawatts on top of its existing 40 megawatts and plans to nearly triple that figure by the end of the decade, Fakhru said.
The company spun off its data centers into a separate company following a similar move last year to create the Middle East’s largest tower company in a deal with Kuwait’s Zain and Dubai’s TASC Towers Holding.
Ooredoo also plans to spin off its submarine cables and fiber networks into a separate entity, Fakhru said.