News

Phoenix Group & Green Data City Plan Crypto Farm In Oman

The $300 million facility is expected to be fully operational by Q2 2024.

Published

3 years ago

August 26, 2023

phoenix group and green data city plan crypto farm in oman

Muscat-based Green Data City has teamed up with Abu Dhabi’s Phoenix Group to build a $300 million crypto farm facility in the Gulf state of Oman.

The 150-megawatt data farm will be one of the largest crypto-mining centers in the region and is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2024.

green data city and phoenix group partnership oman crypto farm

Crypto-mining farms are large facilities filled with racks of PCs sporting high-end GPUs. They are designed to mine cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum using a complex network of software and computers. The process involves solving intricate mathematical calculations to produce new digital currencies — something that requires massive computer resources and lots of electrical power.

Green Data City and the Phoenix Group chose Oman for their mining farm due to the long-term security of the license terms and the comparatively cooler weather in the country’s Dhofar region, which should help to reduce energy consumption.

The first development phase will output 200MW of mining power, while the second phase will reach 400MW, creating a hyperscale data center with downstream activities that will include renewable energy and hydrogen production, desalination, food production, and cosmetics.

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The developers will build the new facility in modular sections to reduce environmental impact and intend to install solar shades and employ specialized local technicians.

Oman’s economy is now on a solid footing as the Gulf country forges ahead with its economic diversification initiatives, backed by favorable oil prices and successful fiscal reforms during a time of stable inflation.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

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For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.