Data Center World Middle East, scheduled to be held next week in Abu Dhabi, will focus on the industry collaboration critical to Abu Dhabi's AI ambitions.

Abu Dhabi's data center industry is entering a critical phase in which hyperscalers and organisations building and running its capacity must work as one with government to create the foundations needed to build AI infrastructure at scale. 

How the industry moves from individual projects to a unified approach will be high on the agenda at Data Center World Middle East, the premier global event for data center, IT infrastructure and innovation for more than four decades, which makes its Middle East debut in Abu Dhabi on November 17 and 18.

Abu Dhabi is already the Middle East's largest data center market, with 374MW of IT capacity, according to the EMEA Mid-Year Data Center Report 2026 from JLL, the global commercial real estate and investment management firm. 

The Department of Energy expects AI infrastructure to need around 2GW of power in a first phase, rising to 5GW, and is thus investing AED250 billion in energy and water infrastructure between 2025 and 2035.

Mehdi Paryavi, Chairman and CEO, International Data Center Authority (IDCA), who speaks on the opening panel, "AI, Power & Sovereign Demand," said: "The biggest gap in making Gulf data centers AI-ready is the lack of a coordinated approach to scale. The region needs adaptable standards, a skilled workforce, long-term regional planning, reliable energy at the scale AI requires, and greater stability. Developers must look beyond individual facilities and work with governments, utilities, and industry partners to build an ecosystem that can support sustainable, large-scale AI infrastructure."

For the companies running Gulf capacity, that work starts long before a facility opens. Khazna Data Centers, one of the world's fastest-growing hyperscale data center platforms, with 30 data centers in operation and 673MW of capacity, is central to the UAE's ambitions.

Morten Tidemand, Senior Director of Operations, Khazna Data Centers, who speaks in the fireside chat "Ambition vs Availability: Supply Chain Realities," said: "The biggest adjustment for operations teams as AI workloads become more demanding is recognising that operational readiness cannot begin at handover. Higher densities require us to rethink cooling strategies, maintenance regimes and emergency procedures well before new capacity goes live. Equally important is ensuring our teams understand how these systems work together, not in isolation."

Data Center World Middle East organised by inD – an Informa/DWTC company – is being held at Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi and is built around those delivery questions. 

Technical sessions will cover liquid cooling at the limit and mixed-density halls running racks from 10kW to 100kW+ and delegates will hear from the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the UAE Ministry of Investment, alongside hyperscalers AWS, Google, Microsoft and Oracle.

Tara Gibb, Senior Event Director, Data Center World said: "Data Center World Middle East is where the people who build, power, finance and regulate the region's AI infrastructure meet to make decisions. Abu Dhabi has made the commitments. Turning them into capacity that runs reliably at 50°C depends on everyone working from the same plan, and that is the conversation this event is built for."

Tabreed, the National Central Cooling Company, whose district cooling networks have 1.58 million refrigeration tonnes of connected capacity, will be represented by its CEO, Dr Yousif Al Hammadi, and Chief Operating Officer, Antonio Di Cecca. Other confirmed speakers include Sameer Cassim, Senior Vice President, Business Development, BDx Data Centers; Khaled El Bedri, Director of Cloud Solutions Architecture, Microsoft; Magide Sebtioui, Director, Global Strategic Accounts & Growth, Honeywell; Abdulrahman Khalid Almazroa, Director of Cybersecurity, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare; Aida Elbouanani, Business Development Director MEA, Liquid Cooling, Castrol; and Dr Umaima Haider, Principal Analyst, Omdia.

Data Center World Middle East is supported by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and The UAE Cybersecurity Council. Sponsors include Midea Building Technologies, Kerno, Enover Heat Pipe Systems, Endress+Hauser and Seagate. - TradeArabia News Service