A new Saudi state-owned company, Humain, backed by the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF), is attracting American technology investors and is set to create a $10 billion venture fund.
As reported by the Financial Times, the new company plans to implement the kingdom's efforts to become a global center for artificial intelligence.
Humain CEO Tarek Amin told the publication that talks are underway with American tech giants, including Elon Musk's xAI, OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz. According to him, the company is looking for partners to participate in the equity of the Humain data center, which aims to become one of the world's largest providers of AI infrastructure. "We are in discussions with all of them. Some of them, which you will hear about very soon, are massive names in the data centre segment," Tarek Amin said.
According to the publication, Humain plans to create an advanced data center with a capacity of 1.9 GW by 2030, which should be increased to 6.6 GW by 2034. By implementing these plans, Humain intends to ensure that Saudi Arabia takes a 7% share in global data processing for artificial intelligence.
The CEO of Humain noted that at current market rates, the project could cost $77 billion. In the near future, the Saudi company plans to build the first 50 MW data center with 18,000 chips from Nvidia, which will launch large-scale projects. One of the competitive advantages, according to Tarek Amin, will be subsidizing electricity tariffs by the state. They are also going to create an engineering hub in Riyadh with 500 specialists, where new models of chips for AI will be developed. At the same time, Humain does not plan to manufacture the chips themselves, limiting itself to their design.
The creation of Humain reportedly underscores Saudi Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitions in the AI sector, as energy-rich Gulf states seek to become "data exporters" and compete to be regional leaders in AI, using the technology to accelerate the diversification of "oil-dependent" economies.
According to the Financial Times, Humain has also signed a $10 billion joint venture agreement with AMD to supply 500 MW of capacity over five years and is investing another $2 billion in Qualcomm to develop data centers and chip design capabilities in the kingdom. As part of the deal, Qualcomm will set up a chipset design center in Riyadh, which will employ 500 engineers. However, Humain has no plans to move into chip manufacturing yet.
As a reminder, the White House recently announced a new collaboration between the US and the UAE — the countries are jointly implementing a large-scale artificial intelligence project that will be the largest of its kind outside the US. The data center in Abu Dhabi will be built by the Emirati company G42 in partnership with several American firms. The complex will have a capacity of 5 gigawatts and will occupy an area of about 26 km².
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