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Amazon Web Services Launches In The United Arab Emirates
Amazon has expanded its reach into the UAE with the Middle Eastern branch of its AWS offering.
Amazon Web Services promotes itself as the “world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform”. Now, the service is set to enter the Middle Eastern region, using local data centers and creating approximately 6,000 jobs in the process. The operation will require an entire construction and infrastructure supply chain, from maintenance and engineering to telecoms and more, bringing a planned $5 billion investment to the region’s economy.
“AWS is committed to helping customers in the UAE deploy the most advanced cloud technologies and achieve the highest levels of security, availability, and resiliency […] we are making it possible for even more customers to harness the power of the cloud to drive innovation across the UAE, while also investing in the local economy through job creation, training for highly sought-after technology skills, and education resources to further advance the UAE’s strategic priorities,” says Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS.
With the Middle Eastern arm of its operation in full swing, Amazon Web Services will be available in 87 zones worldwide, covering 27 geographic regions. The AWS UAE region will comprise three separate zones, joining with Bahrain (launched in 2019). It will enable residents to store data securely while achieving lower latency across the country.
When it comes to uptake within the wider economy, the service is already thriving, with tens of thousands of customers already using AWS across the Middle East and North Africa, including heavyweights such as Al Ghurair Investment, the Dubai Islamic Bank, Alef and GEMS Education, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, and more.
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“The opening of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is a significant milestone for Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole, reflecting our efforts to generate opportunities for all […] It strengthens Abu Dhabi’s commitment to positioning itself as a leading digital economy by leveraging cutting-edge technology to support business growth,” says His Excellency Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.
As smart infrastructure and transformative technology continue to shape Abu Dhabi’s future, the public and private sectors continue to thrive, so there’s little doubt that more prestigious companies will follow in Amazon’s footsteps and expand into the region.
News
Google Releases Veo 2 AI Video Tool To MENA Users
The state-of-the-art video generation model is now available in Gemini, offering realistic AI-generated videos with better physics, motion, and detail.
Starting today, users of Gemini Advanced in the MENA region — and globally — can tap into Veo 2, Google’s next-generation video model.
Originally unveiled in 2024, Veo 2 has now been fully integrated into Gemini, supporting multiple languages including Arabic and English. The rollout now brings Google’s most advanced video AI directly into the hands of everyday users.
Veo 2 builds on the foundations of its predecessor with a more sophisticated understanding of the physical world. It’s designed to produce high-fidelity video content with cinematic detail, realistic motion, and greater visual consistency across a wide range of subjects and styles. Whether recreating natural landscapes, human interactions, or stylized environments, the model is capable of interpreting and translating written prompts into eight-second 720p videos that feel almost handcrafted.
Users can generate content directly through the Gemini platform — either via the web or mobile apps. The experience is pretty straightforward: users enter a text-based prompt, and Veo 2 returns a video in 16:9 landscape format, delivered as an MP4 file. These aren’t just generic clips — they can reflect creative, abstract, or highly specific scenarios, making the tool especially useful for content creators, marketers, or anyone experimenting with visual storytelling.
Also Read: Getting Started With Google Gemini: A Beginner’s Guide
To ensure transparency, each video is embedded with SynthID — a digital watermark developed by Google’s DeepMind. The watermark is invisible to the human eye but persists across editing, compression, and sharing. It identifies the video as AI-generated, addressing concerns around misinformation and media authenticity.
While Veo 2 is still in its early phases of public rollout, the technology is part of a broader push by Google to democratize advanced AI tools. With text-to-image, code generation, and now video creation integrated into Gemini, Google is positioning the platform as a full-spectrum creative assistant.
Access to Veo 2 starts today and will continue expanding in the coming weeks. Interested users can try it out at gemini.google.com or through the Gemini app on Android and iOS.
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