The Middle East is moving faster than the rest of the world in rebuilding its infrastructure around clean energy and artificial intelligence, according to a new Siemens report that found regional organizations are setting emissions targets and adopting industrial AI at rates above the global average.
The study, “Powering Transformation: How a New Generation of Infrastructure Assets is Reshaping the Middle East,” is the regional edition of Siemens’ Infrastructure Transition Monitor, a recurring survey the German technology company uses to track how businesses and governments are remaking energy, buildings and industrial systems. Siemens released the Middle East findings on 23 June 2026.
On decarbonization, the report found that 70 percent of organizations in the region have already set direct and indirect emissions targets, compared with 58 percent globally — a sign, Siemens said, that Middle Eastern firms are treating the energy transition as a near-term operational priority rather than a distant ambition.
Artificial intelligence runs through the findings. Sixty-two percent of respondents expect AI to fundamentally transform infrastructure operations within the next three years, and 61 percent said industrial AI — the use of machine learning to monitor and optimize physical assets such as power networks, factories and buildings — is already making critical infrastructure more resilient.
The electricity grid emerged as a central concern. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed identified smart grids and grid software as crucial enablers of the clean-energy transition, reflecting a widely held view in the power industry that aging networks must become more digital and flexible to absorb intermittent renewable energy and to meet surging demand — much of it now driven by AI data centers.
The conclusions align with national strategies across the Gulf, where governments have tied economic diversification to clean energy and digital infrastructure. The United Arab Emirates has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, while Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 envisions a large build-out of renewable power, new cities and industrial capacity. Rapid population growth, extreme heat and rising electricity consumption have added urgency to grid investment.
Siemens Smart Infrastructure, the division behind the report, supplies much of the technology the study highlights, from grid equipment and building systems to the software used to manage them. Hakan Ozdemir, the unit’s chief executive for the Middle East and head of Siemens Qatar, was put forward by the company to discuss the report’s implications for the region.
As a survey of its own potential customers by a company that sells grid and automation products, the report serves as both a read on industry sentiment and a showcase for Siemens’ portfolio. Even so, its central message — that the Middle East intends to lead rather than follow on AI-enabled, lower-carbon infrastructure — tracks with the scale of energy and technology spending now under way across the region. Siemens said the full report is available on its website.
