Key AI Development Trends for 2026 Roadmaps

Information gotten and examined by "Arabi Post" on the map of cloud service centers and areas (information centers) in the Middle East and North Africa revealed that the area's countries rely greatly on American business for cloud services. The information reveals the presence of around 31 American centers, many of them in Gulf countries, while the number of centers owned by Chinese companies reached about 7.

In the Gulf nations, more than 53% of the cloud infrastructure tracked there is American. Iran, meanwhile, appears to be a remarkable case amongst all the region's nations, as it relies entirely on a 100% local cloud environment. 89cloud centers throughout 22 countries 35%American companies' share (31 centers) 53%Gulf dependence on U.S.

Click any point to view information about the center, consisting of the operating business, its citizenship, and the year it was launched. Use the filters to focus on a particular citizenship, or search for a particular center or nation. Source: "Arabi Post" database of cloud service centers in the Middle East and North Africa (89 centers).

Within a few years, cloud service centers have moved from a "technical option" for minimizing server expenses into vital facilities for the state and the economy: e-government portals, payment and banking systems, health and education platforms, and the operation of big information, expert system, and more. The recent Iran war (2026) exposed a new dimension: the cloud itself can be straight and physically targeted, as occurred when Iranian drone strikes harmed Amazon AWS cloud service information centers in the UAE and Bahrain, triggering interruptions and service blackouts.

Comparing Cloud Systems for the Middle East

However the significance of American and foreign companies does not stop at technical competition or service quality; it encompasses digital sovereignty and concerns of control over information for these countries and their various delicate sectors. American business undergo U.S. laws managing legal access to information, such as the CLOUD Act, raising concerns about the limits of judicial demands for data even when it is stored outside the United States.

"CLOUD Act" (March 2018): Section 2713 clearly compels communications and computing service suppliers to maintain and divulge customer data within their "belongings, custody, or control, regardless of whether it is situated within or outside the United States" verifying the point above., as presented by U.S

At the exact same time, professionals contacted by "Arabi Post" warn of the risks of focusing contracts with American cloud service companies, and of the effect of "foreign jurisdiction" on personal privacy and security.

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Evolution of Cloud Systems in the Middle East

residents or citizens who connect with individuals or organizations in those countries where data centers operated by American business keep the data of those nations and their people. To comprehend the scope of this threat, it is necessary to first take a look at U.S. federal laws such as FISA Area 702 and the CLOUD Act, which governs U.S.

Although the CLOUD Act grants Washington broad authority to gain access to information stored in data centersthe large-scale facilities utilized by companies to store and procedure informationin some cases, under the Act, U.S. authorities might be needed to alert the government of the nation worried that there is a legal basis engaging access to that information.

The U.S. federal government could also penalize or target any U.S. person who engages in financial transactions with that country or sends cash transfers to people there. Abu Al-Saad also states that if a disagreement were to happen between that country and Washington, the United States could suspend its information storage services for that nation and validate doing so.

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This would impact all sectors, including financial and banking services. In the context of the security threats connected to countries' reliance on American data centers, another point also emergesone that Ibtihal Abu Al-Saad thinks about the most crucial and most hazardous: the U.S. legal and intelligence tool referred to as "National Security Letters" (NSLs).

Comparing Cloud Platforms for Middle East

federal intelligence and security companies. Under these letters, U.S. authorities have the capability to compel major technology business to hand over sensitive data associated with citizens or countries. Washington could, for instance, force Amazon to open information records coming from users in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, or in other places, while "enforcing a rigorous nondisclosure order that avoids the innovation company from alerting the Bahraini government or the targeted individuals that this gain access to has happened.