Data centers in Oman: 1 project mapped

Oman is selling itself as a smaller, neutral alternative to the Gulf's AI giants, built on its subsea cables. The country hosts one of the Middle East's highest concentrations of international cable landings, and Salalah in the south is becoming a hub: Equinix and the state-controlled telco Omantel opened the carrier-neutral SN1 data center there, Equinix's second in Oman after MC1 in Muscat, with direct fibre between the two. "By next year, we plan to land multiple subsea cables in Salalah," said Omantel's chief executive, Talal Al Mamari. Omantel, majority owned by the Oman Investment Authority, has since announced a further Salalah data center, and Meta's Daraja cable from Kenya is to land there too. Other operators include Ooredoo, Oman Data Park and Cloud Acropolis.

Royal Decree 50/2026 created an Artificial Intelligence Special Zone in Muscat, on about 104,000 square metres near the Civil Aviation Authority headquarters by Muscat International Airport, targeting AI, semiconductors, robotics and data centers with tax incentives and full foreign ownership, the Oman Observer and Computer Weekly reported. The special zones authority's board is to appoint the entity that will develop and run the zone, and a roadmap for it is being prepared. On May 18, 2026, five companies from Oman, the UAE and Italy signed an agreement for a 150 MW "green" hyperscale AI data center, Data Center Dynamics reported, and the state-backed clean energy firm O-Green says it is targeting more than 200 MW of AI-ready data center capacity across Oman, Spain and other markets by 2028, tied to a planned 2.7 GW solar, wind and battery project at Duqm and Mahout. Not everyone is convinced. Muscat did not make the top 100 of Counterpoint's 2025 AI cities index, and analyst Ahmad Shehab said the strategy is "unlikely to turn Oman into a regional hub under the current parameters."

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.