---
title: "Operational data center capacity reaches 467MW in Q1 2026, per official figures"
url: "https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datacentre-capacity-467mw-q1-2026"
language: "en"
event_date: "2026-03"
published: "2026-10-03"
last_verified: "2026-10-03"
category: "Data Centers"
publisher: "Cicada (cicadaconsultancy.online)"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Operational data center capacity reaches 467MW in Q1 2026, per official figures

- Event date: March 2026 (2026-03)
- Topic: Data Centers
- In this story: MCIT, Dammam, Riyadh
- URL: https://cicadaconsultancy.online/en/news/datacentre-capacity-467mw-q1-2026

Saudi Arabia's operational data center capacity reached 467 MW in the first quarter of 2026, up from 68 MW in 2021, according to official Saudi figures cited by Fortune in September 2026. An independent analysis citing Ministry of Communications and Information Technology data puts end-2025 capacity at 440 MW across more than 60 facilities run by more than 20 companies, with 79% in Dammam (41%) and Riyadh (38%). The analysis stresses that announced capacity far exceeds energized capacity.

## Key figures

- operational capacity Q1 2026: 467 MW
- operational capacity 2021: 68 MW

## Sources

1. [Saudi's Humain seeks external investment to fuel its AI ambitions](https://fortune.com/2026/09/09/saudis-humain-turns-to-outside-investment-as-the-kingdom-reins-in-fiscal-spending/) — Fortune, 2026-09-09
2. [Saudi Data Center Capacity: The Real Megawatts](https://vision2030.ai/analysis/saudi-data-centre-capacity-megawatts/) — vision2030.ai (independent analysis)

Archive report. Written in 2026 from contemporary sources and dated to the day the event happened.

---

Cicada · The signal in Saudi AI.
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Full archive for language models: https://cicadaconsultancy.online/llms-full.txt