As of October 2026, five public cloud providers run live regions inside Saudi Arabia: Google Cloud (Dammam), Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (Jeddah and Riyadh), Alibaba Cloud (Riyadh, through SCCC), Huawei Cloud (Riyadh) and Tencent Cloud (Riyadh). AWS and Microsoft Azure have announced Saudi regions, but neither is generally available yet.
I get asked this in almost every first meeting, and the answers people find online are often out of date or mix up "announced" with "live". That gap matters. If your data has to stay in the Kingdom, a region that opens next quarter cannot host your workload today. This is the list I work from.
Which hyperscalers have a live region in Saudi Arabia?
| Provider | Status | Location | How you buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud | Live | Dammam (me-central2), opened late 2023 | Through CNTXT, the Aramco joint venture that resells Google Cloud in the Kingdom |
| Oracle Cloud (OCI) | Live | Jeddah (me-jeddah-1, 2020) and Riyadh (me-riyadh-1, 2024) | Direct from Oracle or partners |
| Alibaba Cloud | Live | Riyadh, since 2022 | Through SCCC, a joint venture led by stc |
| Huawei Cloud | Live | Riyadh, since September 2023, three availability zones | Direct or partners |
| Tencent Cloud | Live | Riyadh (me-saudi-arabia), two zones, announced at LEAP 2025 | Direct or partners |
| Microsoft Azure | Announced | Saudi Arabia East, Eastern Province | Microsoft targets Q4 2026 |
| AWS | Announced | Saudi region, with a separate HUMAIN AI Zone | AWS says it is on track for late 2026 |
Google Cloud in Saudi Arabia
The Google Cloud Dammam region is live, and the commercial model is the part most buyers miss. Customers with a Saudi billing address buy Google Cloud through CNTXT, a joint venture between Aramco and Cognite that acts as Google's reseller in the Kingdom and runs sovereignty controls on top of the platform. Google states that the region holds CST Class C, assessed against the NCA Essential and Cloud Cybersecurity Controls. For regulated buyers that combination, a hyperscaler platform with a local operator, is often the deciding factor.
Oracle Cloud in Saudi Arabia
Oracle was early. Its Jeddah region opened in 2020 and the Riyadh region followed in August 2024, hosted with Center3. That makes OCI the only provider here with two live regions in different cities, which matters for disaster recovery designs that have to stay in-Kingdom. Oracle also says it was the first major provider to receive CST Class C. If you run Oracle databases or Oracle applications, the case is straightforward.
The Chinese clouds: Alibaba, Huawei and Tencent
Three Chinese hyperscalers run live regions in Riyadh, and they are more present in public sector and telecom deals than many people outside the market expect.
- Alibaba Cloud operates through SCCC, a joint venture of stc, Alibaba Cloud and Saudi partners, live since 2022.
- Huawei Cloud opened its Riyadh region in September 2023 with three availability zones in an stc data center, and states it holds CST Class C.
- Tencent Cloud announced its Saudi region at LEAP 2025 with a commitment of more than USD 150 million, and its documentation now lists a Riyadh region with two zones.
What about AWS and Microsoft Azure?
Both are coming, neither is live. Microsoft has confirmed the Saudi Arabia East region for Q4 2026. AWS announced a Saudi region in 2024 with an investment of more than USD 5.3 billion and says it is on track for late 2026; its partnership with HUMAIN adds a dedicated AI Zone on top. Until they open, workloads that must stay in the Kingdom cannot run on either one inside Saudi Arabia. Many teams design for them now and keep the in-Kingdom pieces on a live provider.
How should you choose?
In practice, the decision is rarely about features. It comes down to four questions:
- Where must the data live? Your data classification under the National Data Management Office rules decides whether a workload must stay in-Kingdom. See my guide to data sovereignty in Saudi Arabia.
- Which compliance evidence does your regulator expect? CST registration class and NCA control coverage matter more than any benchmark.
- Who will you actually buy from? Several providers sell through a local partner or joint venture, which shapes contracts, support and pricing.
- What already runs your business? Existing Oracle, Microsoft or Google estates usually point the way.