Nvidia has entered into an agreement to deploy its artificial intelligence technology in data centers owned by the Qatari telecoms group Ooredoo across five Middle Eastern countries, according to Ooredoo’s CEO.
This deal marks Nvidia’s first significant launch in a region where the U.S. has imposed export restrictions on advanced chips to prevent Chinese firms from using Middle Eastern countries as a conduit to access the latest AI technology.
Ooredoo will become the first company in the region to provide clients in its data centers located in Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman, Kuwait, and the Maldives with direct access to Nvidia’s AI and graphics processing technology, as stated by Ooredoo.
Ronnie Vasishta, Nvidia’s senior vice president of telecom, mentioned that this technology will enable Ooredoo to better support its customers in deploying generative AI applications.
“Our B2B clients, thanks to this agreement, will have access to services that their competitors likely won’t have for another 18 to 24 months,” Ooredoo CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo told Reuters in an interview.
The financial terms of the deal, signed during the TM Forum in Copenhagen on June 19, were not disclosed. Ooredoo did not specify which Nvidia technologies will be installed in its data centers, indicating that it will depend on availability and customer demand.
The company has also spun off its data centers into a separate entity, following a similar strategy last year to establish the Middle East’s largest tower company in partnership with Kuwait’s Zain and Dubai’s TASC Towers Holding.
