38 data centres, a $30bn AI infrastructure commitment, and a digital economy target of 20% of GDP by 2026.
The investment flowing in is generating a new class of outward-looking digital operators.
The UAE’s digital economy is projected to contribute 20% of national GDP by 2026, up from approximately 9.7% in 2021 – a doubling in five years driven by sustained government investment and a deliberate strategy to attract global technology infrastructure. The country’s National AI Strategy 2031 positions artificial intelligence as a core pillar of economic diversification. The US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, formalised during President Trump’s May 2025 visit, operationalised this domestically through the country’s most significant international technology agreements, including a commitment to build 1 gigawatt of AI data centre capacity in the UAE.
For destination markets looking to engage with Gulf digital economy investment, the opportunity is in the outbound dimension: the UAE-based technology operators, platform companies, and digital infrastructure firms that are building regional and international commercial presence as their domestic market matures. This cohort is growing in both number and ambition, and it is not yet systematically targeted by most IPA outreach strategies.
The physical infrastructure is being built at scale. The UAE now hosts 38 data centre facilities primarily in Abu
Dhabi and Dubai. The data centre market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.95% over the next five years,
reaching AED 9.7 billion by 2029. AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Alibaba have all expanded capacity in the country. Dubai supported the establishment and expansion of 1,210 digital startups in 2024 – a 120% increase compared to 2023 – reflecting the ecosystem effect of infrastructure investment on early-stage company formation.
The commercial story that follows this infrastructure build is the one relevant to investment promotion agencies in other markets. As the UAE’s digital economy matures – in payments, cloud services, AI applications, healthtech, and digital financial infrastructure – the companies scaling within it are gaining both the capability and the capital to expand internationally. The UAE and Saudi Arabia together are described by Middle East Briefing as the Gulf’s most dynamic technology markets in 2026, with strong demand across AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and fintech underpinned by government investment and regulatory reform.
The UAE’s digital economy is being built with global connectivity as a design principle. The investment flowing out of it will follow the same logic.
Nueconomy has a partner presence in the Gulf and tracks expansion signals from UAE digital economy operators through CUE.
If you are a destination market looking to engage UAE digital economy outbound investment and technology
operator expansion, we can help identify the right companies and the right approach.
hello@nueconomy.co · thenueconomy.com
