The superiority of SDAIA's Hexagon data center over its global counterparts is a practical manifestation of a decisive strategic choice spearheaded by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. This choice is based on the principle of building a fully-fledged national digital sovereignty, enabling the Kingdom to move from a stage of consuming technology to one of owning, managing, and operating data infrastructure within a unified national framework. This framework is directly linked to national security, good governance, and accurate decision-making.
Strategic transformation: From consuming technology to owning it
Since the establishment of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) in 2019, and the Crown Prince's assumption of its chairmanship, the Kingdom has witnessed a radical transformation in its approach to digital assets. Data is no longer merely files for archiving; it has become the "oil of the 21st century" and a fundamental pillar of Saudi Vision 2030. Technology policies have shifted towards creating long-term government digital assets that treat data as both an economic and sovereign pillar, thus establishing a new era of digital independence that reduces reliance on foreign operators and protects the national cyberspace.
Tier IV standards: Operational excellence that surpasses global norms
Choosing to build a Tier IV reflects a commitment to the highest levels of operational reliability globally. This rating boasts up to 99.995% availability and a superior ability to perform routine and emergency maintenance without any impact on service continuity. This advanced level surpasses the prevailing model in most US and European commercial data centers, which often operate at Tier III or Tier III+ ratings and rely on multi-client operations driven more by commercial profitability considerations than strict governance requirements. This operational superiority empowers Hexagon to operate sensitive and critical government systems within a completely stable environment designed to manage risks proactively.
480 MW: Infrastructure for the Economy of the Future
The 480-megawatt capacity is the cornerstone for building a comprehensive data economy. This massive power goes beyond traditional storage to run generative AI models, high-performance computing (HPC), and large-scale national data analytics (Big Data). This capacity surpasses the average capacity of individual US centers, which typically ranges from 100 to 250 megawatts, reflecting the Kingdom's readiness to run energy-intensive national AI models within a state-owned and directly managed environment, thus supporting smart city projects like NEOM and Qiddiya.
Economic and investment impact: figures that reflect the value
Economically, the success of a sovereign data center is measured by the value chain it generates. Based on global average costs for Tier IV data centers, where the cost per megawatt ranges from $7 million to $12 million, the estimated capital investment for the Hexagon data center is between $3.3 billion and $5.7 billion (equivalent to SAR 12.5 billion to SAR 21.4 billion). At the operational level, each megawatt generates between $1.5 million and $2.5 million annually in economic activity related to power, operation, maintenance, digital services, and cybersecurity, bringing the expected annual operating economy to between $720 million and $1.2 billion.
The added value extends beyond these direct figures through indirect effects that include increased efficiency in government spending, reduced operational waste, the empowerment of the national AI economy, and the localization of high-value technology supply chains. International economic estimates indicate that every dollar invested in sovereign data infrastructure generates between $2 and $4 in added value over 10 years, placing the expected cumulative impact of Hexagon at levels exceeding 40 to 60 billion riyals in the medium term. This positions it as one of the most prominent digital sovereign assets in the region and a model to be emulated in the global data economy landscape.
