London-headquartered construction firm Laing O'Rourke has started the construction works on a new data centre in Ajman, UAE.

The project is being developed by UAE-based data centre and cloud services provider Khazna Data Centres.

The project was unveiled on the sidelines of the Gitex Global 2024 event in Dubai earlier this week.

The facility will be the country's largest artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced data centre, with an expected capacity of 100MW.

Local firm Proarc Architects & Engineering Consultants is the architect of record.

The new facility is expected to cost about AED1bn ($272m) and be completed within 15 months.

The project will cover an area of 100,000 square metres (sq m) and will include 20 data halls, each with a capacity of 5MW.

According to an official statement: "The new Tier 3 data centre will be the first AI data centre of its kind in the region, underscoring the country’s significant efforts to meet the growing demand for energy in the age of AI, which the International Energy Agency expects to double by 2026."

Etihad Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) will supply power to the Ajman data centre.

Khazna and another data centre and cloud computing provider, Injazat, both owned by Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investment firm Mubadala, became part of Abu Dhabi AI company Group 42 (G42) in 2020 as a result of Mubadala acquiring a minority stake in the AI firm.

Both firms started as data centre service providers before expanding their services to include cloud and cyber security.

In 2021, G42 signed a binding agreement with Abu Dhabi-headquartered Etisalat Group to merge their data centres.