RIYADH: The first Saudi data center fund initiative is set to kick off thanks to a collaboration between leading financial services provider Saudi Fransi Capital, or SFC, and Al Moammar Information Systems Co., also known as MIS. The partnership falls in line with the digital infrastructure initiative launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology back in 2021 which entails an $18 billion scheme to construct networks of significant data centers across Saudi Arabia. Both parties aim to make the platform one of the largest pure play data center operations in the Kingdom, according to a statement. Moreover, the fund will pinpoint additional expansion and collaboration opportunities in an attempt to grow its presence in the industry. In 2021, SFC and MIS launched the first of its kind initiative, referred to as Saudi Data Center Fund 1, with the aim of constructing six hyperscale data centers – with an accumulated capacity of 24MW - across two availability zones in the country. The potential capacity of the data centers was to be expanded to 120MW in the future.