Zoho is scaling self-funded data centres across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, using its lower-cost open source cloud stack to offer a sovereign alternative to Big Tech providers.
Zoho Corp. is accelerating its open-source cloud strategy with plans to build and expand its own data centres across the Middle East and Africa, targeting the UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa — three of its fastest-growing markets.
The company has appointed Equinix Inc. to set up facilities in the UAE and has begun discussions for additional centres in Saudi Arabia and South Africa, signalling a deeper regional infrastructure push.
Unlike hyperscale rivals, the expansion will be self-funded. Zoho plans to finance the rollout using profits generated within these markets, underscoring operational independence. The investment size has not been disclosed.
The infrastructure build-out complements Zoho’s core offering: open source, cloud-based business software spanning email, documents, accounting, hiring and enterprise applications, typically priced at about half the cost of comparable services from Google and Microsoft Corp..
Zoho already operates hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, indicating that the move is an expansion rather than a market entry.
The strategy aligns with growing government demands for data localisation and sovereign cloud control, as global players including Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft expand their own regional footprints.
Hyther Nizam, Head of Middle East and Africa at Zoho, said, “Procurement has, to some extent, become influenced by geopolitical and policy considerations,”
By pairing local infrastructure with an affordable open-source stack, Zoho is positioning itself as a budget-friendly, sovereign-cloud alternative to US hyperscalers across emerging markets.
