One of the world’s leading professional services firms, Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has released a new report examining how Saudi Arabia can finance the next phase of its data centre expansion. The report highlights the growing need to structure data centre projects in a way that attracts financing and supports investment at the scale required to meet the Kingdom’s growing digital infrastructure needs.
The report, Financing Saudi Arabia’s Data Centre Build-Out (report PDF link), assesses the capital requirements associated with the Kingdom’s digital infrastructure ambitions and outlines a practical framework for sponsors and CFOs seeking to secure financing in an increasingly competitive market.
Saudi Arabia operates approximately 410 MW of installed data centre capacity and is forecast to reach around 1 GW by 2030. Yet announced projects point to much greater ambition, driven by AI adoption, hyperscale cloud investment and national digital transformation priorities. The report notes that Saudi Arabia has approximately 12 watts of data centre capacity per capita, compared with around 50 watts in both the UAE and the United States, highlighting significant headroom for future growth.
The report estimates that delivering even part of the announced pipeline could require between $28 billion and $42 billion of project capital and between $14 billion and $32 billion of debt financing. As developers compete for capital alongside the Kingdom’s wider Vision 2030 infrastructure pipeline, financing readiness is emerging as an increasingly important differentiator.
Kurt Davis Jr., Managing Director and Head of Debt & Capital Advisory, Middle East & Africa at Alvarez & Marsal, said: “The Kingdom has made extraordinary progress in creating the conditions for data centre growth. Demand is strengthening, investment commitments continue to grow, and digital infrastructure investment continues to accelerate. As the market matures, greater focus is being placed on how projects are structured, financed and delivered.”
Davis added: “As the market matures, bankability becomes a central consideration. Sponsors that secure contracted revenue, allocate construction risk appropriately and take a long-term approach to capital structure will be best positioned to secure financing and accelerate delivery.”
The report identifies three critical levers that determine whether projects can secure financing on attractive terms: Contract, Construction and Capital. It highlights the importance of securing anchor customers early, structuring contracts around bankable cash flows, allocating construction risk appropriately and planning capital structures across the full lifecycle of an asset.
As investment activity continues to expand across the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 infrastructure pipeline, financing readiness is expected to become an increasingly important differentiator. Sponsors that can demonstrate contracted revenue, effective risk allocation and robust financing structures are likely to be better positioned to secure capital and accelerate project delivery.
