Hexagon: Saudi Arabia Launches World’s Largest Government Data Center with 480MW Capacity
The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has broken ground on the Hexagon data center in Riyadh, marking the launch of the world’s largest government-owned data center by planned electrical capacity at 480 megawatts.
The facility spans over 2.8 million square meters and is designed to meet Tier IV standards from the Uptime Institute, the highest global certification for data center reliability, ensuring operational uptime of approximately 99.995%.
A Sovereign Digital Infrastructure
Hexagon is purpose-built to host hundreds of sensitive government systems and services while keeping all data within Saudi borders, integrated with the national digital services ecosystem. The center employs advanced cooling technologies including direct liquid cooling and hybrid cooling systems, alongside renewable energy integration to achieve LEED Gold certification for green buildings.
The massive electrical and computing capacity enables the operation of national AI models, high-performance computing, and large-scale national data analytics under SDAIA’s unified oversight.
Economic and Strategic Dimensions
Industry estimates suggest Tier IV data center construction costs range between $7 and $12 million per megawatt, placing Hexagon’s capital investment in the billions of dollars. The project is expected to generate thousands of jobs across data center operations, cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI solution development.
The initiative forms part of Saudi Vision 2030’s broader strategy to position the Kingdom as the region’s premier destination for technology investment and to build a knowledge economy powered by data, AI, and supercomputing. Owning a government data center of this scale strengthens Saudi Arabia’s negotiating position in international technology partnerships.
This approach aligns with a growing global movement toward sovereign clouds and national AI infrastructure, as countries increasingly seek to maintain control over their digital assets rather than relying solely on foreign service providers.
