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ICS Arabia Desert Dragon (Riyadh phase) data center

Al Kharj, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · Riyadh market · location approximate to district level

ICS Arabia Desert Dragon (Riyadh phase) is a data center project in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, operated by ICS Arabia. It is under construction. It is planned for 65 MW of IT load.

Latest change on record: entered the record as under construction on 1 November 2024.

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Stage
Under construction
Planned IT load
65 MW
Running now
Not disclosed
Operator
ICS Arabia
Colocation
AI workloads
Likely
Evidence grade
Corroborated
Will it get built?Strong6 of 7 gates passed
✓ Land secured○ Power arranged✓ Approvals granted✓ Money committed✓ Tenant or own use✓ Builder appointed✓ Construction started

Next gate to watch: Power arranged.

Your call. Will it be built?

Build odds is ArusGrid's reading of the public record, not a forecast, a rating or advice. It counts the gates this project has passed in public sources. Private progress does not show, a passed gate can be undone, and projects that pass every gate still stop. The method has not yet been tested against outcomes. How it works.

How Saudi Arabia approves, powers and taxes data centers is on Data center rules in Saudi Arabia.

How well evidenced is it

Construction or financing is evidenced, or several independent signals agree. On record: named funder, disclosed client (reported), three or more sources, dated source in the last 24 months. Criteria.

AI workloads

StatusLikely

A reported 15-year lease for 10MW of AI workload capacity. Stated AI positioning by the operator.

Access to AI chips

GradeLicence required for a party

A party to this project (its operator, that operator's group, a funder, or a confirmed client) is headquartered in China or Macau or has an ultimate parent there. US rules require a licence for advanced AI chips destined to such entities wherever they are located. This describes the rule and says nothing about whether a licence was sought, granted or refused. Criteria.

Case-by-case authorisation only · Case-by-case authorisation only (2025-11-19) source

Stage history

2024-11-01Under construction · datacenterdynamics.com

Who is behind it

OperatorICS Arabia · Colocation
Funder, Joint venture partnerLumaotong Group
Funder, Joint venture partnerChina Mobile International

Who uses the compute

Tenant · GPU cloudXDS Datacentres · reported, unconfirmed

10 MW · 10MW immersion-cooled facility handed to XDS by June 2026, XDS operates it for 15 years · as of 2025-07-09

DCD reports that Desert Dragon Data Centers, the ICS subsidiary, will design and construct the Riyadh facility before handing it to XDS by June 2026; XDS operates it for 15 years. Adds the MW, the term and the date to the existing reported client.

Source · ICS Arabia and Dubai's XDS to deliver immersion cooled data centers in Saudi Arabia (DCD, 2025-07-09)

Project team
Design and build contractorICS Arabia Confirmed source ↗
ICS Arabia describes itself as main contractor (design, build, operate) for the Desert Dragon programme. Self-build by the operator. Not stated per site.
Land
Allocated byMODON (Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones) · Sep 2024 Reported source ↗
Land secured through MODON for the Desert Dragon programme. Programme-level statement.
Water and cooling
CoolingHybrid air and liquid cooling Reported source ↗
Immersion cooling alongside conventional racks of 2 to 100kW.
CoolingImmersion cooling Confirmed source ↗
The 10MW XDS deployment across Desert Dragon Riyadh and Jeddah uses full immersion cooling with N+N power and cooling. Programme sources describe both conventional and immersion cooling.

Sources

  1. ICS Arabia breaks ground on 187MW Desert Dragon project (DatacenterDynamics, 2024-09-15)
  2. Desert Dragon Data Centers (ICS Arabia)
  3. Construction to start on $1.9bn Saudi data centres (MEED, 2024-09-20)
  4. XDS Datacentres and ICS Arabia partner to launch landmark 10MW Immersive Cooling Data Center in KSA (ACN Newswire, 2025-07-11)
  5. Data centre of the month: XDS Datacentres 10MW Saudi Arabia project (Capacity, 2026-01-06)
  6. XDS Datacentres signs 15-year deal to host 10MW of AI workloads in Saudi's Desert Dragon facilities (ACN Newswire (XDS Datacentres release), 2025-07-14)
  7. XDS Datacentres signs 15-year deal to host 10MW of AI workloads in Saudi's Desert Dragon facilities (Saudi Gazette, 2025-07-08)

More in Riyadh

Also run by ICS Arabia

All projects in Riyadh · All projects in Saudi Arabia · All ICS Arabia projects · All projects under construction · Data center rules in Saudi Arabia · Full directory

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