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Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority recorded a 96 percent occupancy across its three economic zones in the first half of 2026, while the number of companies operating within them rose 13 percent year on year, the authority said.
The workforce across Dubai Airport Freezone, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Dubai CommerCity increased 24 percent, with DIEZ attributing the faster growth in employment to existing companies expanding their operations and staffing levels.
The growth at Dubai’s economic zones comes as the emirate continues to expand its broader economy and strengthen its position as a global business and investment hub. Dubai’s gross domestic product grew 5.4 percent in 2025 to 937 billion Emirati dirhams ($255.1 billion), while the economy expanded 2.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, according to Dubai government data.
DIEZ Executive Chairman Mohammed Al-Zarooni said: “In the next phase, we are focused on enhancing the competitiveness of our ecosystem by developing services and institutional enablers, accelerating digital transformation and deploying artificial intelligence technologies to improve operational efficiency and the customer experience, and enhancing the readiness of our zones to attract companies and high-value investment in future sectors.”
The 11-billion-dirham District IO project will provide infrastructure to support future technologies, research and development, and innovation.
The 1.8 billion-dirham first phase of Block 14 will include commercial, residential and retail properties near a planned Dubai Metro Blue Line station, with completion scheduled for 2029.
Startup investment
Oraseya Capital, DIEZ’s venture capital arm, invested in 15 startups during the first half, representing a 25 percent annual increase.
Citing MAGNiTT’s first-half rankings, DIEZ said Oraseya was the UAE’s most active investor by number of deals and for early-stage investments. It ranked second across the Middle East and North Africa in both categories.
The eighth cohort of Oraseya’s Sandbox accelerator selected 16 companies from 771 applications.
New company registrations at the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus rose 57 percent, while the number of AI-focused companies increased 95 percent.
Dubai maintains FDI leadership
Dubai retained its position as the world’s top destination for greenfield foreign direct investment projects for a fifth consecutive year in 2025.
Announced projects rose 10.5 percent to 1,253 and attracted 32.43 billion dirhams in capital, according to Dubai government data citing fDi Markets.
