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Oman invests $210m in Sohar data centre project

By Divsha Bhat
Green Data City CEO Olivier Ohnheiser and Sohar Freezone CEO Omar Mahmood Al Mahrizi sign the agreement for a data mining centre Oman News Agency
Green Data City CEO Olivier Ohnheiser and Sohar Freezone CEO Omar Mahmood Al Mahrizi sign the agreement
  • Sohar Freezone deal
  • Data mining operation
  • 20,000 servers on site

Oman’s Sohar Port and Freezone has signed a land-lease agreement with Green Data City to develop a data computing centre.

The facility aims to provide hosting, processing and data mining in the free zone, reported the state-owned Oman News Agency.

Green Data City is a data miner, which means using computers and automation to search data sets for patterns and trends, and turning those findings into business predictions.

With a total investment of $210 million and covering a land plot of 45,000 square metres, the project will accommodate roughly 20,000 servers.

These servers, hosted in 40-foot containers, will be linked to hydro systems with dry coolers, ensuring energy-efficient and sustainable cooling. 

“This project is an initiative towards digital transformation, economic development and the enhancement of communication and information technology services in general,” said Sohar Freezone.

The agreement was signed by Omar Mahmood Al Mahrizi, the zone’s CEO and Olivier Ohnheiser, CEO of Green Data City.

Arizton Advisory and Intelligence estimates that Oman’s data centre market was valued at $247 million in 2022. It is expected to reach $428 million by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.6 percent.

Cloud service providers such as Oracle, AWS, Microsoft and Google have a foothold in the sultanate through local partnerships.

The country also has around 14 submarine cables connected to data centre markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

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