From Oil Reserves to Data Control: The Rise of Digital Self-Reliance

For decades, the unspoken global economic agreement shaped how the world worked: physical resources were bounded by borders, while the digital world remained largely borderless. We shipped crude oil across oceans in tankers, but let data travel freely through fibre optic cables, largely unmonitored, unregulated and assumed to be neutral. That era is ending.

Just as nations once scrambled to secure oil reserves to ensure their energy independence, governments today are racing to secure what is known as “sovereign technology.” From Brussels to Riyadh, and New Delhi to Abuja, the realization is settling in: if you don’t control your digital infrastructure, you don’t control your future.

We are witnessing a fundamental change in geopolitics. Information is no longer a by-product of internet use; it is a strategic national resource. And for the multinational corporations long accustomed to a frictionless global internet, the rules of the game are about to change radically.

The world mandate of autonomy

The anxiety behind this movement stems from a shared recognition that dependence on foreign technology stacks, mostly American or Chinese, represents a strategic vulnerability. Digital sovereignty is evolving from mere theoretical policy language into an operational reality, one that is playing out differently across regions.

India, for example, has championed an open, population-scale, utility-centered approach. Its technology stack, built on publicly available digital infrastructure, includes open APIs for identity (known as Aadhaar), payments (Unified Payments Interface) and data sharing (Account Aggregator). India’s policy framework, commonly referred to as Atmanirbharata (self-reliance), is not about constructing walls, but rather about creating indigenous digital plumbing that local companies can build on to innovate. In doing so, India has demonstrated that mass-scale services, like financial inclusion, can be delivered without reliance on foreign platforms. 

Europe, by contrast, has focused on regulation, data transparency and governance. The objective of initiatives like Gaia-X is not to create a single “European Cloud” to rival Amazon or Google. Instead, the goal is a federated, interoperable ecosystem that gives European entities sovereignty over their data, even when stored on an external cloud. Compliance, ethical use and vendor choice are embedded directly into the architecture, reflecting European values into the very building blocks of the digital infrastructure. 

The Gulf’s approach is distinct again, characterized by strategic capital deployment and the institutional establishment of “national champions” to carry out a top-down mandate for digital independence. Here, digital sovereignty is existential and directly tied to post-oil economic futures and long-term security. 

The new digital pillars of the Gulf

The Middle East’s geopolitical pivot is centered on becoming a global digital hub that controls both hardware and software. 

In the case of Saudi Arabia, efforts to become technologically independent have been centralized under Humain. Backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Humain is now the home for assets such as Allam, the Arabic large language model. The aim is to own the entire A.I. value chain to ensure that when A.I. is embedded into critical sectors, the underlying intelligence is culturally relevant, locally governed and aligned with national priorities. 

In the UAE, G42 has emerged as the model for a new era of global tech engagement: “sanitized integration.” Instead of isolation, G42 works directly with global leaders like Microsoft to build sovereign public clouds. The software may be world-class, but the data remains physically and legally contained within UAE borders, protected by local regulation. Together, G42 and Humain are not only building domestic resilience; they’re positioning the Gult as a trusted digital bridge for the Global South—a neutral operator for countries seeking to diversify their technological dependencies.  

The multinational headache

The intersection of these diverging approaches—localization in India, governance-driven sovereignty in Europe and state-backed infrastructure in the Gulf—poses a growing challenge to global technology companies.

The era of “build once, deploy everywhere” is giving way to a fragmented digital landscape shaped by jurisdiction-specific legal and physical requirements. For multinationals, this means rising compliance costs and fundamental strategy shifts. Data residency is moving from a business preference to a legal mandate. Strategic partnerships are now required, where giants increasingly need to enter into joint ventures with local sovereign entities that contribute the capital, governance and regulatory protection in return for access to the global company’s core technology and IP. The Microsoft-G42 deal is the most obvious instance of this “golden handcuff” dynamic. At the same time, service fragmentation is becoming the norm. Products now need ot be architected to respect national boundaries, resulting in materially different versions of the same service across markets. 

The new balance of power

Critics argue that sovereign tech strategies risk inefficiency and isolationism, potentially creating an innovation-killing environment by disrupting the global collaborative nature of the internet. The momentum is undeniable, though. The global narrative is shifting from one of efficiency at all costs to one of resilience, autonomy and strategic control. 

For the Gulf, this is not only an economic transition process, but also a security necessity that changes its role in the power structure of the 21st century. By controlling digital assets—the new oil—nations gain leverage in shaping their position on the world stage.

As we look to the next decade, countries that will prosper will not necessarily be those with the largest oil reserves, but those that can effectively harvest, refine and protect their digital assets. Digital self-reliance is no longer a luxury. It is now the prerequisite to sovereignty in the modern era. 

Yousef Khalili is the Global Chief Transformation Officer and CEO MEA at Quant, which develops cutting-edge digital employee technology.