Top 5 insights from the Dubai FinTech Summit 2025

1. There is still demand (and investment) for new data centres

There is still a large demand and large investment into building new data centres. Facilities for both compute and for AI were needed and were being built as fast as humanly possible, not just in the UAE but in countries around the world wherever UAE-based organisations had investments.

One interesting fact we found is that the mix of public cloud deployments is very different in the region, because the market share of major cloud providers is diminished by local providers such as AliCloud and Huawei Cloud. Despite the widespread use of public cloud deployments, FinOps and DevOps are still relatively immature in the region with some huge bills hitting desks each month

2. Data is the new uranium!

In 2017 The Economist famously claimed, that data is the new oil. But is oil really the right analogy?

• Oil is a non-renewable resource that cannot be reused once consumed.
• Oil is difficult (expensive) to find, extract and transport.
• In the future, plans to move away from oil could diminish its value.

In his recent book, Mikko Hypponen devised a more accurate comparison: data is the new uranium. His reasoning?

• Uranium has positive uses, such as generating energy—one pound of uranium can produce as much energy as three million pounds of coal through fission.
• Uranium can be dangerous if misused and should be tracked because of the risks it poses.

What does this mean for how organisations should handle their data?

Understand that the data you store, and process can be targeted by cyber-attackers, either for its monetary value, or simply because exfiltrating that data or holding it to ransom is enormously disruptive to your business continuity. The more data you store and process, the more likely it is to be targeted by attackers.

The global big data analytics market is projected to reach $68.09 billion in 2025. Additionally, the rate of data breaches surged by over 400% in the post-pandemic era, underlining the importance of reevaluating data storage strategies. Part of this re-evaluation involves recognising that the cost-benefit dynamics of data storage have shifted. While organisations may value maintaining access to extensive data reserves, it may not always be wise for them to store it in-house.

Companies highly value customer data, but it's crucial to question the necessity of retaining this information. Recent statistics reveal that malicious actors can buy databases containing millions of stolen emails, compromised online banking credentials, and authenticated Stripe and PayPal accounts for as low as $100. These breaches pose significant risks and financial threats to individuals and organisations alike.

3. Data governance and data sovereignty are needed

Data production is increasing, and data retention is increasing. Added to this, if organisations want to adopt AI and derive real value from it, then data management, data linage, and data compliance must be tackled first.

Amidst this complex and multi-faceted issue, easy solutions are hard to come by. We do know however, that data governance is extremely important for all organisations worldwide. Equally, data sovereignty is increasingly important in the UAE and some other middle eastern countries. This is driving development of specific sovereign AI models as well as the increase demand of in-country data centres for both compute and AI.

4. The UAE is ahead of the region on AI sovereignty

Most organisations we spoke with are attempting to adopt AI and understand their use-cases. However, the main challenges in AI were model selection and testing. The UAE is a frontrunner in advancing AI sovereignty with the Institute of Foundation Models and new models like Falcon 3 based directly in the UAE. Other countries around the world can look to such models to speed up their own progress.

5. More investment in cybersecurity is needed

Given the huge focus on cloud, data and AI, the final piece of the puzzle is always cybersecurity. Sadly, the statistics are not promising: ransomware attacks in the UAE increased 32% in 2024 costing tens of millions of dollars and put the . Despite such figures, over 70% of FinTech organisations in the UAE don’t have the tools to detect cyber-attacks. Clearly, there is much room for organisations in the region to improve their security posture with threat detection and response tools and managed services.

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