Khazna, an Emirati wholesale data center operator, intends to build a data center outside Ankara in Turkey.
The up to 100MW facility will be located in Baskent Organized Industrial Zone, an industrial park southwest of the capital.
The first phase of the data center will be optimized for cloud usage, but Khazna intends for the facility in Turkey (also known as Türkiye) to support AI workloads.
Khazna said it would appoint a general contractor for the project in Q2 2025.
CEO Hassan Alnaqbi said: “We believe this data center will add to the country’s impressive economic growth, encouraging innovation and accelerating digital transformation.”
Khazna is backed by G42 and secured additional funding from MGX and Silver Lake in April 2025. It operates 30 data centers across the UAE and is developing a facility in Egypt.
Last year, rival UAE firm Edgnex announced a joint venture with Vodafone to build a $100 million data center in Izmir, western Turkey. It was set to go live in Q1 2025.
Relations between the UAE and Turkey have strengthened in recent years. In March 2023, the two countries signed a trade deal that aimed to boost trade to $40 billion in the subsequent five years. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the UAE was Turkey’s 11th largest importer and its seventh largest export market in December 2024.
“Khazna Data Centers' expansion into Türkiye is a testament to the deepening ties between our countries,” Saeed Thani Hareb Juma Aldhaheri, the UAE’s ambassador to Turkey, said.
“Relations with Türkiye are of great importance within the UAE’s strategy to strengthen its partnerships, expand its relations and reinforce bridges of cooperation in all fields.”
The majority of Turkey’s data centers are located in Istanbul. Operators include Equinix, Turkcell, Telehouse, and Sparkle.
