Today's Edition
ASILA AL BADI (ABU DHABI)
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and data centres across the Gulf is creating new demand for energy infrastructure, creating new opportunities to manufacture more of that equipment locally in Abu Dhabi.
Frédéric Godemel, Executive Vice President of Energy Management at Schneider Electric, said the company is already seeing increased demand for the electrical equipment required to supply AI data centres.
“We see a demand for our equipment to supply AI data centres,” Godemel told Aletihad. “Those equipment are similar to the ones we need to power the grid and other types of applications, like buildings and so on.”
“We see a rise in this demand, which allows us to have more localisation and more added value in the Gulf, thanks to those products,” he added.
Godemel was speaking during Schneider Electric’s Innovation Summit Middle East and Africa 2026, held at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi on September 15 and 16. The summit focused on the convergence of energy technology, industrial intelligence and digital innovation, with AI-driven electrification and energy resilience among its key themes.
For Schneider Electric, proximity to customers is one of Abu Dhabi’s main advantages as a manufacturing base. Godemel pointed to the company’s joint venture TAQANA and its position close to major customers, including ADNOC and data-centre companies.
“In all our solutions in electrical equipment, you have standard components and you have components that are adapted to what the customer really needs,” he said. “The advantage to be here in Abu Dhabi is to be very close to our customers.”
That local presence is increasingly extending across the value chain. Godemel said Schneider Electric is working towards a level of localisation where design, steel manufacturing, assembly, commissioning and servicing can all be carried out locally.
“We will still import some power electronics components and so on, but being at 70%, that means that most of the added value of what we sell in an equipment is made locally,” he said.
The scale of demand in the UAE is helping make that possible, he added, and continued investment could allow the company to bring more components into the local supply chain.
“We can do that because of the volume we have now in the Emirates, and of course, if the investment keeps going, we will keep localising some other parts more,” Godemel said. “Probably copper we can localise, and certainly some parts of breaker assembly.”
Among the equipment that could increasingly be manufactured in the UAE are low- and medium-voltage switchgear, busbars and cooling systems, according to Godemel. Such equipment is particularly important for the expanding AI data-centre sector.
He said the availability of raw materials and the ability to make them locally, alongside access to qualified engineers, strengthens the case for producing these systems in the UAE.
“The level of education is good,” he said. “So, you find people that can help design that equipment.”
The growth of AI is also increasing pressure on energy systems. Schneider Electric’s newly released UAE Industrial AI study cited projections that power demand across the Middle East and Africa could rise by 70%, accelerated by industrialisation, large projects and the growth of AI and data centres.
