Colocation Services in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the largest colocation market in the Middle East. As of April 2026, PeeringDB records 22 active colocation-grade facilities in the Kingdom, spread across Riyadh (8 facilities), Jeddah (5 facilities), Dammam and the Eastern Province (6 facilities), and secondary cities including Makkah, Madinah, Al-Khobar, and Buraydah. The market is dominated by center3, the carrier-neutral operator that runs 14 of those 22 PeeringDB-registered facilities nationally. The Saudi Arabia colocation market was valued at USD 1.2 to 1.5 billion in 2024 (industry estimates from MarketsandMarkets and Mordor Intelligence) and is projected to reach USD 3 to 4 billion by 2030. That trajectory is driven primarily by Saudi Vision 2030 digital transformation investment and by PDPL data residency requirements that mandate personal data of Saudi nationals and residents remain within the Kingdom. All five major hyperscalers now have a confirmed or active presence in Saudi Arabia. AWS launched the Middle East South 1 (Riyadh) region in 2023. Microsoft Azure expanded its Saudi Arabia regions in Riyadh and Jeddah. Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud have all announced or activated Saudi infrastructure. Each hyperscaler region generates substantial colocation demand from enterprise customers seeking hybrid-cloud connectivity at or adjacent to those cloud nodes. That demand requires local physical services: remote hands, cross-connect provisioning, and hardware break-fix support inside the facilities where those workloads actually run.

Saudi Vision 2030 has created the most significant single driver of datacenter demand in the Middle East. The program sets a target of raising the digital economy from approximately 6 percent of GDP in 2024 to 19.2 percent by 2030, a target stated by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). To meet that goal, the Saudi government has committed over USD 10 billion in announced data center investment for the period 2024 to 2030, covering hyperscaler builds, government cloud infrastructure, and national digital transformation projects. Several specific programs are directly relevant to colocation demand. The Yesser program (National Government Cloud) mandates that all Saudi government ministries migrate on-premise infrastructure into CITC-licensed colocation facilities or government-approved cloud platforms. That migration is generating large-scale rack-and-stack, server migration, and secure decommissioning work across Riyadh facilities. NEOM, the USD 500 billion city project on the Red Sea coast, has dedicated datacenter infrastructure requirements tied to its THE LINE, Sindalah, and Oxagon projects; technology vendors deploying within NEOM facilities require hands-on physical services during the build and commissioning phases. The Red Sea Project and Qiddiya entertainment city similarly carry integrated data center components. For international enterprises entering Saudi Arabia as part of Vision 2030 supplier programs or foreign direct investment commitments, the colocation decision is not simply about rack space. It involves navigating a rapidly scaling but still relatively concentrated operator ecosystem, meeting PDPL and NCA compliance requirements, and finding local technical support that is independent of the facility operator and capable of covering multiple cities under a single service agreement.

Riyadh concentrates the largest share of Saudi enterprise and government colocation demand. The city is home to eight PeeringDB-registered facilities, the majority operated by center3 across the Mursalat and Al-Rimal campus clusters. The flagship facility is center3 RUH4 (Al-Rimal, Riyadh), which hosts both of Saudi Arabia's Riyadh internet exchanges: SAIX Riyadh (33 member networks, founded 2018) and center3 RYD-IX (10 member networks, launched May 2024, powered by LINX technology). The concentration of two internet exchanges at a single facility makes center3 RUH4 the primary peering destination for carriers and content networks in the capital, and the highest-priority location for cross-connect provisioning and IX-related remote hands work in Riyadh. The center3 Mursalat campus (RUH1 and RUH2) is an established carrier and ISP hub with six and two network members respectively. KACST Building 44 (King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, King Abdullah Branch Road, Al Raed, Riyadh) anchors government and academic IP infrastructure in the capital, with eight network members and one internet exchange, hosting the SARNET (Saudi Academic and Research Network). Nournet Nahdah Data Centre (Ibn Alhaitham Street, Riyadh) was added to PeeringDB in February 2026, signaling active new capacity entering the market as Vision 2030 investment accelerates. For enterprises and carriers requiring on-site support in Riyadh, RebootMonkey dispatches Arabic-speaking field engineers to all eight Riyadh facilities under a single 4-hour on-site SLA. The 8-factor dispatch algorithm weights location proximity at 30 percent and DC access credentials at 20 percent, ensuring the nearest credentialed engineer is dispatched rather than a generalist without facility access.

Jeddah is Saudi Arabia's commercial gateway and the country's primary submarine cable landing hub. Six international submarine cable systems land at Jeddah or have landings under construction: FALCON (connecting Saudi Arabia to UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and India), SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 5 (Mediterranean to Southeast Asia), AAE-1 (Asia Africa Europe 1, East Africa to Europe), 2Africa (under construction, circles Africa with a Jeddah landing), and Blue-Raman (planned, India to Europe via Saudi Arabia). The cable landing density makes Jeddah the natural home for carrier colocation, CDN infrastructure, and GCC traffic exchange. Cable landings, cross-connect provisioning, and IX port installations require certified engineers on the ground on a recurring basis. Five PeeringDB-registered facilities serve the Jeddah market. Center3 JED2 (Al-Nazlah, Jeddah) is the largest single facility in Saudi Arabia by network count, with 16 member networks, anchoring the center3 Nuzlah campus alongside JED1 and JED3. Center3 JED1 hosts the center3 IX Jeddah (JED-IX), a LINX-powered exchange with 25 member networks and 29 IXF-registered networks, making it the most commercially active Saudi internet exchange in recent IXF import data. Mobily JED1 DC (Abhur Al Janubiyah, northern Jeddah) hosts SAIX Jeddah (14 member networks, launched November 2022), adding a second Jeddah peering venue. Equinix entered the Saudi IX market in May 2023 with Equinix Jeddah IX (5 member networks, early growth phase), signaling a longer-term Equinix commitment to Saudi infrastructure. RebootMonkey provides remote hands and smart hands across all Jeddah carrier-neutral facilities, covering IX port installations, fibre patching, and hardware support for CDN and carrier tenants at the Nuzlah campus and Mobily JED1.

Understanding the Saudi colocation operator landscape is a prerequisite for any enterprise evaluating where to colocate and what support services it will need. Center3 is the dominant carrier-neutral operator in Saudi Arabia, with 14 PeeringDB-registered facilities across 7 cities: Riyadh (6), Jeddah (3), Dammam (2), Al-Khobar (1), Makkah (1), Madinah (1), and Buraydah (1). Formerly the infrastructure arm of STC (Saudi Telecom Company), center3 is now independent and operates both the SAIX national internet exchanges (Riyadh and Jeddah) and its own LINX-powered JED-IX and RYD-IX exchanges. Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia's second-largest telecom operator, operates Mobily JED1 DC in Jeddah, which hosts SAIX Jeddah. Mobily's colocation offering targets enterprise and government clients in the western region. Quantum Switch operates two facilities in King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) in Dammam, the industrial energy hub adjacent to Saudi Aramco's operations in Dhahran. Both Quantum Switch DMM A and DMM B carry dual-substation power diversity, targeting oil and gas, petrochemical, and industrial IoT workloads that require high uptime in an industrial environment. Nournet (Nour Internet Company) operates Nahdah Data Centre in Riyadh and DAM-DC-3 in Dammam, both added to PeeringDB in February 2026. Nournet's expansion reflects the new capacity wave entering the market as Vision 2030 investment accelerates beyond the established center3 network. KACST (King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology) operates Building 44 in Riyadh as the anchor for Saudi government research and academic IP infrastructure. Equinix has announced a 4-facility Saudi Arabia campus investment and already operates Equinix Jeddah IX, positioning the global colocation brand as an emerging option for multinational enterprise customers seeking an Equinix-ecosystem experience in the Kingdom.

RebootMonkey (operated by EDCS OÜ, Estonia) is a third-party datacenter services provider. It does not own or operate datacenter facilities. It provides physical services inside the colocation facilities that enterprises and carriers already use, covering all major Saudi Arabia operators under a single contract and a single SLA. The core differentiator in Saudi Arabia is cross-facility independence. Each major Saudi facility operator also offers its own in-house smart hands: STC Solutions SmartHands operates only inside STC facilities. Equinix SmartHands covers Equinix-owned facilities only. Mobily in-house technical staff prioritize Mobily-operated facilities. None of those operator-tied services can dispatch to facilities they do not own. An enterprise with equipment in center3 RUH4, Mobily JED1, and Quantum Switch SPARK cannot manage all three locations under a single support contract through any of those operators. RebootMonkey solves that with a single vendor-neutral agreement covering all Saudi Arabia facilities in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. Services delivered in Saudi Arabia include remote hands, smart hands, rack-and-stack, server migration, datacenter migration, datacenter decommissioning, hardware monitoring, hardware recycling, data destroying (PDPL-compliant secure erasure with chain-of-proof documentation), and rack and network design. The 24/7 NOC detects P1 incidents within 5 minutes and notifies the client within 15 minutes. Field engineer dispatch achieves 4-hour on-site resolution for P1 incidents. The 8-factor dispatch algorithm assigns the nearest credentialed engineer, weighting location proximity at 30 percent, DC access credentials at 20 percent, and skill match at 15 percent. For Saudi Arabia dispatches, language match (5 percent weight) explicitly scores Arabic-speaking engineer availability, ensuring on-site coordination is conducted in Arabic when required. Arabic-speaking field engineers are available in both Riyadh and Jeddah. Pricing is offered per incident, as block hours, or as a monthly retainer, denominated in SAR or USD.

Saudi Arabia has enacted a regulatory framework for data and cybersecurity that directly shapes how enterprises must operate their colocation infrastructure. The Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), enforced by SDAIA (Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority) since September 2023, requires that personal data of Saudi nationals and residents be stored within Saudi Arabia unless specific transfer conditions are met, including adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or explicit consent. Article 29 of the PDPL requires appropriate technical and organizational security measures for data handling, including physical access controls. For enterprises using colocation, this means third-party technicians accessing servers containing personal data must operate under documented procedures that satisfy PDPL accountability requirements. RebootMonkey's chain-of-proof protocol generates photographic and video evidence per task type, providing an audit trail that satisfies PDPL Article 20 accountability requirements. CITC (Communications and Information Technology Commission) licenses all colocation facilities operating in Saudi Arabia. The CITC National Cloud Computing Regulatory Framework requires that government data be hosted in Saudi-based, CITC-licensed facilities. Enterprises supplying the Saudi government or operating under the Yesser G-Cloud program must verify that their colocation provider and any third-party service vendor operate within this regulatory perimeter. The NCA (National Cybersecurity Authority) publishes the Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC-1:2018) and Cloud Cybersecurity Controls (CCC-1:2020), which apply to critical infrastructure and cloud-adjacent facilities. NCA ECC-1 physical security controls specify access logging and escort procedures for third-party technicians. RebootMonkey's on-site protocol includes supervised access, documented engineer credentials, and per-task completion records that satisfy NCA escort and access documentation requirements. For financial services clients, the SAMA Cybersecurity Framework (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) applies additional controls to banking and insurance sector colocation. Enterprises in this sector should confirm that their colocation provider and third-party services vendor can demonstrate audit-trail compliance with SAMA framework requirements.

Colocation pricing in Saudi Arabia reflects the premium that comes with a fast-growing market where demand is outpacing supply. Power costs are lower than in Europe due to subsidized energy in the Kingdom, but facility construction and compliance costs (CITC licensing, NCA certification, tier certification) push overall pricing above some regional comparators. As a reference frame for enterprise buyers, Saudi colocation rack space typically runs at a premium to the UAE market but with lower power costs per kilowatt than Western European facilities. Enterprises evaluating Saudi colocation should factor in both the facility cost and the cost of on-site support, which is a recurring operational line item and not included in standard colocation contracts. RebootMonkey on-site support is priced across four engineer tier levels. L1 (escort and access) runs below USD 20 per hour. L2 (rack and stack) runs USD 20 to 30 per hour. L3 (break-fix and troubleshooting) runs USD 30 to 45 per hour. L4 (rack and network design) runs USD 45 to 70 per hour. Clients can select per-incident billing for occasional tasks, block hours for predictable monthly workloads, or a monthly retainer for 24/7 coverage without per-incident overhead. All pricing is available in SAR or USD to align with Saudi enterprise procurement standards. For enterprises comparing the cost of RebootMonkey's independent third-party model against facility-operator smart hands: independent cross-facility coverage under a single SLA reduces procurement overhead and eliminates the cost of managing separate support contracts per facility. For enterprises colocated in two or more Saudi facilities, a single vendor-neutral support agreement represents both a cost consolidation and an operational simplification.

Saudi Arabia's internet exchange infrastructure is younger than its European counterparts but is growing rapidly. Five internet exchanges are PeeringDB-registered in the Kingdom as of April 2026. SAIX Riyadh (Saudi Arabia Internet Exchange, Riyadh) is the national internet exchange with 33 member networks, hosted at center3 RUH4 in the Al-Rimal district. SAIX was founded in 2018 as part of the Saudi digital infrastructure buildout and operates with IPv4 and IPv6 support and 24/7 technical support. All cross-connect provisioning and IX port installations at SAIX Riyadh concentrate at center3 RUH4, making it the single most important remote hands location for peering-related work in the capital. SAIX Jeddah (14 member networks, launched November 2022) is hosted at Mobily JED1 DC in northern Jeddah. Center3 IX Jeddah (JED-IX, 25 member networks, powered by LINX) is hosted at center3 JED1 in the Nuzlah campus and is the most commercially active Saudi IX in recent IXF import data. Equinix Jeddah IX (5 member networks, launched May 2023) is the newest entrant, reflecting Equinix's longer-term Saudi commitment. Center3 RYD-IX (10 member networks, launched May 2024) provides a second Riyadh peering venue alongside SAIX at center3 RUH4. For carriers and content networks requiring remote hands for cross-connect provisioning, fibre patching, or IX port installations, the concentrated nature of Saudi exchange infrastructure is operationally significant. The majority of IX-related hands work in Riyadh concentrates at a single facility (center3 RUH4), and the majority in Jeddah at the center3 Nuzlah campus. RebootMonkey field engineers carry access credentials to all primary IX host facilities, enabling same-facility dispatch for peering-related tasks without multi-vendor coordination delays.