Alexey Stiop - stock.adobe.com

Dubai has been ranked second globally in the inaugural Intelligent Cities Index published by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), securing the top position worldwide for the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and smart city solutions.

According to the Dubai Media Office, the index evaluated 61 cities worldwide and recognised Dubai’s leadership in implementing AI-powered services and smart technologies across the public and private sectors.

The ranking reinforces Dubai’s growing reputation as one of the world’s most advanced digital cities and reflects years of investment in technology infrastructure, innovation ecosystems and AI-driven government services. It also aligns with the UAE’s broader ambition to position itself as a global hub for artificial intelligence and digital innovation.

The achievement comes as the UAE continues to strengthen the foundations required to support large-scale AI deployment. Across the Middle East, the datacentre market is undergoing a major transformation, emerging as a global powerhouse for digital infrastructure.

A combination of ambitious government-led digital strategies, rising demand for cloud and AI services, cost optimisation initiatives, and growing investment from both hyperscale providers and regional operators is driving this evolution. Positioned as a digital gateway between Asia, Africa and Europe, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are expected to play a pivotal role in shaping the region’s digital future, with datacentre capacity forecast to triple by 2030.

Dubai and the wider UAE are expected to be at the centre of that growth. Khazna, for example, is expanding its AI-ready datacentre footprint as part of plans to support the country’s rapidly growing AI ecosystem and the increasing demand for high-performance computing infrastructure. The company has outlined plans to reach datacentre capacity of 1GW by 2030, helping provide the computing power needed to support the next generation of AI applications and services across the UAE and beyond.

The importance of infrastructure is becoming increasingly evident as organisations move from AI experimentation to production-scale deployments. AI workloads are driving a fundamental redesign of datacentres, creating new requirements around power density, cooling systems and compute capacity. At the same time, many industry observers view inference infrastructure as the next battleground in the global AI race, with success increasingly dependent on the ability to deploy AI services efficiently, securely and at scale.

Beyond infrastructure, the UAE has also invested heavily in developing a broader AI ecosystem encompassing talent development, governance frameworks and sovereign AI capabilities. Government initiatives, public-private partnerships and investments in advanced digital infrastructure are helping to create the conditions required for long-term AI adoption across industries.

The latest BCG ranking suggests those efforts are beginning to translate into measurable outcomes. While many cities remain focused on AI strategies and pilot projects, Dubai has prioritised implementation, integrating AI into government services, urban planning and digital experiences while fostering collaboration between public and private sector organisations.

As governments and enterprises increasingly compete on their ability to deploy AI at scale, Dubai’s performance in the Intelligent Cities Index demonstrates how long-term investment in infrastructure, innovation and digital transformation can translate into tangible results. The emirate’s second-place global ranking reinforces its position not only as a regional technology hub, but as one of the world’s leading centres for AI-driven transformation.

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