Tencent Bets on Gaming and Super Apps for Saudi Cloud Expansion

China’s Tencent Cloud is expanding in the Middle East with a $150 million investment to launch its first regional cloud data center in Saudi Arabia by the end of the year to meet growing demand for cloud services, gaming, and enterprise solutions across the region.

Dan Hu, vice president of Tencent Cloud International for the Middle East and North Africa, said the new center will improve latency and accessibility for both businesses and gamers. Tencent’s ecosystem, led by PUBG Mobile, already ranks highly in Saudi Arabia.

The company has also deployed edge nodes to enhance streaming, live events, and real-time communication ahead of the center’s launch.

Gaming and Gitex partnerships drive regional growth

The expansion aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which prioritizes gaming and esports as part of economic diversification. The kingdom hosted the Esports World Cup in Riyadh this year and plans the first Olympic Esports Games in 2027. 

Tencent titles, including League of Legends, Honor of Kings, and Valorant, are popular across the region. Hu emphasized that proximity to players is key, with latency targets of 50 to 70 milliseconds for highly interactive games.

At Gitex Global, Tencent also signed deals with Tawasal Information Technology and Klickl. Tawasal will integrate localized mini-games into the Tawasal SuperApp, while Klickl will use Tencent’s Super App as a Service model to enhance digital wallets and cross-border payments.

Global cloud providers, including Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba, and IBM, are also scaling operations in the Gulf. The move follows Alibaba Cloud’s first UAE data center in 2016 and is part of its $53 billion global AI and cloud investment plan over three years. 

In the UAE, data center capacity is expected to grow 165 per cent to 950 megawatts by 2028, led by Khazna and G42-Stargate, according to Emirates NBD. Tencent’s expansion positions it to capture a share of the region’s digital economy through gaming, fintech, and cloud infrastructure services.