You can register to attend by following this link. You will receive a Zoom confirmation email should your registration be successful. Alternatively, you can watch the event live here on our Facebook page.

Data centers are increasingly promoted as neutral, technical infrastructure underpinning digital transformation, AI, and economic diversification for the MENA region. The market for data centers is expected to more than double by 2033, and computing capacity is forecast to more than triple before that, with the biggest proponents for this development in the region being Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel.

This webinar, in partnership with SMEX, is the first of two discussions that examine data centers not as purely technical assets but as political and economic infrastructure with far-reaching implications for sovereignty, privacy, inequality and the economy. Moving beyond narratives of innovation and development, the discussion will explore who owns and finances data centers, whose interests they serve, and how their rapid expansion may reshape power relations within and across the region.

This first webinar will address the following questions:

• What are data centers, and why has their expansion become such a strategic priority?
• How do state investments, sovereign wealth funds, and global technology companies – including major cloud providers – shape ownership, control, and dependency?
• What are the implications of Gulf and Israeli dominance in technology and regional data center market for other MENA countries?
• How should we think of issues of digital sovereignty, privacy, and inequality when reflecting on data center expansion?
• What regulatory, accountability, and governance frameworks—local or international—might mitigate risks related to concentration of power, surveillance, and exclusion?

This discussion forms part of ARI's "Siyasa & Silicon" series, which seeks to advance social-science engagement with artificial intelligence and emerging technologies across the Middle East and North Africa region, fostering critical inquiry into how digital transformation is influencing governance, accountability, and civic life.

Moderator:  Andrew Findell-Aghnatios - Senior Programme Coordinator

Speakers:

• Sarah El-Kazaz - Associate Professor.
• Sara Bazoobandi - Non-resident research fellow, Institute for Security Politics at Kiel University.
• Ragheb Ghandour - CyberSecurity Technologist, SMEX.