SOCAR exchanges Oracle Alloy agreement as Aliyev pitches Azerbaijan for AI data centres

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and US-based Oracle exchanged an "Oracle Alloy Agreement," one of 11 documents signed at the 2nd Azerbaijan International Investment Forum in Baku on 26 September 2026, according to the official website of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. At the same forum, President Ilham Aliyev told investors the country is negotiating with hyperscale cloud companies to build AI data centres on its spare electricity capacity.

What was signed and said

• The Oracle Alloy Agreement was exchanged by SOCAR president Rovshan Najaf and Oracle senior vice president for technology engineering in Europe, the Middle East and Africa Jason Rees, president.az said; neither side disclosed its scope, value or timeline.
• Asked about surplus electricity, Aliyev said the priority is domestic use, including "with respect to AI data centers," and said Azerbaijan is in "a very active phase of negotiations with the leading companies of the world" on digital development and AI, in the forum transcript published by president.az.
• Moderator and Global Infrastructure Partners chairman Adebayo Ogunlesi said, in the same transcript, that one of Aliyev's plans for December's G20 summit is "to meet with the leadership of some of the major hyperscalers."
• Aliyev said, in the same transcript, that a Caspian Sea fibre-optic cable to Kazakhstan will be inaugurated "by the end of this year," and called the Center for Cybersecurity "just the first important step" in capacity-building for the sector.

Why it matters

The Oracle deal is a signed technology agreement tied to Azerbaijan's hyperscaler courtship, a day after a deputy minister said separate talks on an AI data centre in the Alat Free Economic Zone were in their "final stages." The two events show Baku moving from stated intent toward at least one signed document, while still withholding financial or technical detail — a pattern regional peers such as Kazakhstan and Gulf states have also used to court cloud investment on cheap, surplus energy.

What it means for Azerbaijani companies

Infrastructure accessibility is one of the stated priorities of Azerbaijan's Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2025–2028, approved by presidential decree. A signed Oracle partnership, even with scope undisclosed, gives local software, fintech and hosting firms an institutional link to a hyperscale cloud provider to watch for future capacity or reseller terms; president.az reported no tender, local-partner clause or go-live date, so firms should treat the agreement as a framework rather than an available service today.