Tencent Cloud has unveiled plans to launch an internet data center in Bahrain by year-end, marking its first facility in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It hopes the launch will pave its way into a market that has growth opportunities, with local businesses looking to drive their digital transformation.

The Chinese internet giant’s cloud division on Monday inked an agreement with the Bahrain Economic Development that would see the former deploy its first public cloud infrastructure in the region. Citing research from MarketsandMarkets, Tencent said the cloud market was projected to hit $4.5 billion in the Middle East by 2024, climbing at a compound annual growth rate of 17.5%.

It added that the agreement would pave the way for Tencent to tap Bahrain’s regional position and the government agency’s ties with local and regional ecosystems, including Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat. The Economic Development Board would further drive the adoption of cloud services to accelerate digital transformation efforts as well provide support for partner companies to use these services alongside local organizations, such as training agency Tamkeen.

Source Credit: ZD Net