Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest energy company, is aiming to break into the cloud computing and data analytics market, and it’s looking to Google-parent Alphabet and Amazon as potential partners to build a tech hub, according to the oil giant’s chief executive.
A partnership with the tech titans would advance Saudi Arabia’s goal of diversifying its oil-dependent economy and boost the kingdom’s domestic computing muscle as it expands use of data analytics in its legacy energy businesses.
“I think both Google and Amazon and other companies are major players when it comes to cloud computing, and Aramco’s definitely looking at all of these companies and looking at investment and growth in these markets in cloud computing,” Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told CNBC in an interview at IHS Markit’s CERAWeek in Houston.
Alphabet and Aramco have discussed forming a joint venture that would build data centers in the kingdom, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Sources also told the Journal that Amazon is nearing a $1 billion deal to construct three data centers there…
