Siada brings Nvidia B200 GPUs to UAE sovereign AI data center

Siada and Innovation City opened the UAE’s first operational sovereign artificial intelligence data center on July 6 inside the Innovation City free zone in Ras Al Khaimah. The facility offers immediate access to Nvidia B200 graphics processing units and stores and processes data locally to meet domestic data residency rules.

The center is owned and operated by Siada, a subsidiary of IOPn, with Innovation City serving as the commercial launch partner. Nvidia B200 GPUs have been in short supply globally, with reported delivery waitlists extending into 2027. The companies did not disclose financial terms for the build or the number of GPUs installed.

Companies based in the free zone can consume compute by the hour, secure long-term capacity, or use managed on-premises environments. The service targets industries that need high-performance compute and strict data controls, including financial technology, gaming and AI development. Processing and routing data locally is intended to ensure compliance with new rules in Gulf Cooperation Council jurisdictions that limit cross-border transfers of certain classes of data.

Paul Dawalibi, chief executive of Innovation City, described the partnership as addressing common technical challenges for firms in the zone: “We are solving tech company pain points head-on with sovereign compute infrastructure that no one else delivers at this scale.” Mojtaba Asadian, chief executive of IOPn, called the deployment a model for maintaining control over data and digital identity: “Sovereignty isn’t just about where data sits-it’s about who gets to decide.”

Siada and Innovation City described the Ras Al Khaimah facility as the first node in a planned network of sovereign AI data centers across the UAE and the wider Gulf. The partners said the strategy aims to reduce reliance on offshore processing and shorten delays caused by global chip supply bottlenecks. Siada announced plans to expand the model to additional sites in the UAE and neighbouring Gulf states but did not provide a rollout timeline.

Operational details remain limited. The companies declined to reveal total compute capacity, the size of the initial GPU allocation or pricing for hourly and long-term access. Siada will run the compute infrastructure while Innovation City handles commercial relations within the free zone.

Regulatory scrutiny across the Gulf has increased focus on data residency. The new center presents an onshore alternative to overseas cloud and colocation providers by offering local data control and faster availability of advanced GPUs for development and production workloads.