THE DATA CENTRE INTERVIEW
Regulatory clarity and national infrastructure Operators frequently describe regulation as a drag on deployment schedules. Paul locates the problem elsewhere.“ There is a common assumption that regulation slows innovation,” he highlights.“ I don’ t think that’ s true. Uncertainty slows innovation. Businesses are remarkably willing to adapt when the rules are clear, consistent and designed for emerging technologies. What kills investment is not regulation – it is constantly shifting expectations.”
He argues that governments should treat compute capacity in the same category as the utilities that preceded it:“ Governments also have an opportunity to recognise AI infrastructure as strategic national infrastructure – the same way previous generations invested in transport, energy and telecommunications.
“ Those investments enabled economic transformation at scale. Trusted AI infrastructure will play the same role in the digital economy. The countries that succeed won’ t regulate less. They will regulate with greater clarity and longer-term vision.”
The Middle East’ s clean-slate advantage The regional case rests on the absence of legacy estate, with Gulf operators specifying for high-density AI workloads from the outset.
“ The Middle East has an advantage that most mature technology markets simply do not have,” Paul says.
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