Consortium to Develop 400MW Hyperscale AI Data Center in Oman with $3 Billion Investment

A consortium of Omani and international companies has unveiled plans to build a hyperscale AI data center complex in Salalah, Oman, anchored by an initial investment of $3 billion, a project that underscores the Gulf state's ambition to position itself as a regional hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The facility will be purpose-built for hyperscale tenants and is designed to support up to 400MW of capacity, with room for future expansion. Power for the campus will be drawn from a combination of grid electricity and renewable sources, with Dubai-based O2 Global Energy tasked with developing 400MW of solar generation paired with battery storage specifically for the project.

The consortium is led by Omani investment firm Mubbadrah and includes London-based financial company Sustopia Capital, global holding company Vela Tech, and O2 Global Energy. The $3 billion figure covers the scope of infrastructure development, including buildings, electricity, cooling, network connectivity and fiber, according to Yasser Al Barami, CEO of Mubbadrah Investment, who noted in a LinkedIn post that servers and specialized chips are typically supplied by tenants according to their specific needs, representing additional investment within the facility.

The announcement was made at an event in London attended by Omani and UK representatives during Sultan Haitham bin Tarik's three-day state visit to the United Kingdom in October. US cloud computing firm Crusoe has indicated interest in becoming a potential off-taker for the project's data center capacity, according to the consortium.

Al Barami described the project as a natural extension of Oman's strategic advantages, saying the country "has the stability, the strategic location and the energy resources to become a regional home for AI infrastructure," adding that Mubbadrah was "delighted to bring together partners with the capital, technology and experience to make that happen, creating lasting value and opportunities for Oman and its people." Nikhil Chouguley, CEO of Sustopia Capital, said the firm's expansion into Oman is "a strategic extension" of its vision to build foundations for the next era of AI, quantum computing and digital innovation, citing its 5GW data center platform spanning Denmark, the US and the UK. Sustopia Capital and Vela Tech are currently developing, designing and constructing approximately 20GW of AI data center capacity worldwide.

Yazan Faouri, founder and CEO of O2 Global Energy, said the company brings 12 years of experience developing solar and renewable energy projects across several countries, and that as founder of both O2 and H2 Global Energy, a leading green hydrogen and green ammonia developer in the MENA region, he looks forward to "delivering clean, reliable power for one of the region's most important digital infrastructure projects." The project reflects a broader trend across the Middle East in which oil-producing nations are leveraging cheap and abundant energy resources to attract AI infrastructure investment, though the scale of the Salalah campus places it among the larger announced developments in the region and signals that Oman intends to compete for hyperscale workloads alongside larger neighbors.