Oxagon - the floating industrial city under development in the southwest corner of the Neom development in Saudi Arabia - is in talks to construct a 1GW artificial intelligence data center.
An initial 400MW phase could be signed this year, claimed Oxagon’s CEO Vishal Wanchoo in an interview with Semafor.
The data center would be powered by renewable energy and utilize backup batteries to ensure a stable flow of electricity.
In addition, the company is exploring an "innovative cooling technology" to reduce energy consumption, stated Wanchoo.
According to officials, the city is in talks with multiple renewable energy manufacturers to set up production plants for solar and wind components.
Advanced negotiations are underway to establish factories with the Public Investment Fund and Vision Vest.
Envision Energy Co is already supplying Neom with blades and turbines and are set to collaborate on the Oxagon manufacturing facilities.
Saudi Arabia has committed 15 billion riyals ($4 billion) to the port project.
Neom has several data centers for development and operations. These include an 18,000 sqm (193,750 sq ft) data center developed by Tonomus and inaugurated in July 2023.
In October 2021, Neom announced a $500m joint venture with EzdiTek – later named ZeroPointDC – to develop and operate data centers in the new city. EzdiTek has partnered with global engineering and architectural firms RED and Gensler for the project.
The venture, located on Oxagon, will be 51 percent owned by Neom and 49 percent by EzdiTek.
Shortly after the original JV announcement, Neom subsidiary Tech & Digital Holding Company announced Oracle would be the first tenant of its hyperscale data centers in the new city.
However, the mega project's development has encountered serious issues recently. In July, it was reported that Neom was at risk of being scaled down due to a fall in government revenues.
A recent expose by ITV claimed that, since 2017, more than 21,000 Indian, Bangladeshi, and Nepalese workers have died in Saudi Arabia working on various aspects of Saudi Vision 2030, including the Neom project.
