Under its Vision 2030 strategy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) plans to establish a secure network of data embassies abroad to protect its national sovereign cloud and AI models.
To fulfill its vision of independent data embassies on foreign soil, Saudi Arabia is negotiating directing with powerhouse manufacturers to secure its own privileged advanced semiconductors’ supply, needed to power sovereign cloud dream.
The plan is to make the Kingdom a trusted hub for global AI development, to gain full control over data, software, and operations.
Instead of building all the infrastructure locally through a sovereign cloud, the Kingdom will manage information abroad with full legal control. Simultaneously, it will tackle local energy and water limits to support its Vision 2030 goals for sovereign cloud market size growth.
Data Embassies Will Be Future Pillars of Sovereignty
Don’t let the digital aspect of the embassies confuse you with its diplomatic value, as one data embassy still acts, and has the same perks as a diplomatic one.
The mere digitalized nature of information does not mean the elimination of its sensitivity. And just because it’s stored outside the borders of the KSA, it does not mean it’s no longer protected, or adherent to, its national law.
Back in 2017, Estonia created the first data embassy, followed by Monaco. Both holding backups of top-secret government data for cyber and climate risk protection.
Saudi Arabia is now following suite with its sovereign AI strategy that’s based on three pillars: sovereign data, operational data, and software sovereignty.
- Sovereign data, necessary for keeping information under Saudi control.
- Operational sovereignty to enable the Kingdom to manage the infrastructure independently.
- Software sovereignty to assure tools remain in agreement with Saudi law.
All together, these pillars will build a trusted sovereign AI infrastructure foundation that will support AI projects globally.
“Getting data embassies up and running would be tricky in practice as they require bilateral international agreements… it will ultimately depend on the trust of the parties involved,” explains Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, professor at the University of Oxford.
Saudi Arabia’s draft Global AI Hub Law sets out frameworks ranging from full autonomy for foreign sites to hybrid arrangements where Saudi Arabia’s courts assist local courts.
“This is just a different option… to protect certain categories of data, which, from my understanding, is sensitive data that the government needs to hold,” Nathalie Barrera from Palo Alto Networks says.
Experts stress that embassies primarily shield sensitive government data on taxes, health, or administration while opening up new avenues for the operation of AI systems around the world.
Attracting Tech Investment with Sovereignty
Saudi Arabia’s data sovereignty approach is also designed to attract international investment by offering sovereign house data centre capability and strong data residency compliance. So, international companies will have a fully controlled environment to develop AI projects.
Access to advanced semiconductor chips from the US powers this national AI cloud infrastructure, essential for machine learning workloads. The visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House underlined Saudi ambitions to create a strong sovereign AI strategy.
Additionally, serving in gathering support for the KSA’s declaration of independence AI initiatives. The talks also connected the AI development with wider cooperation on nuclear strategy, defense guarantees, and long-term technological ties, showing how AI hardware has become a central part of diplomatic negotiations.
Approval for advanced chips would help Saudi Arabia match regional rivals like the UAE, which has already secured major data center and semiconductor agreements earlier this year.
“That could run the gamut of providing a range of different assistance… to actively taking part in the combat in an offensive not only defensive manner,” says Dennis Ross, a Middle East policy expert.
Companies like Tawuniya illustrate practical results. Using the Lemnisk platform, running entirely on Saudi-based clouds, customer interactions dropped from 100 to 30 per query, while ROI rose 62 times. This proves that AI personalization does not necessarily conflict with cloud sovereignty policies and strict sovereign cloud measures.
Saudi Arabia is building sovereign cloud zones to reshape the global AI landscape. Rather than competing on data borders, advanced nations could compete on offering trusted, high performance, data residency compliance, a blueprint for the next era of technology leadership.
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