Saudi Arabia Plans $3B AI Data Center Expansion With Global Tech Partners

Saudi Arabia is aggressively advancing its artificial intelligence ambitions through Humain, a state-backed company supported by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund. The company aims to establish Saudi Arabia as the world's third-largest AI powerhouse, trailing only the United States and China, by building up to six gigawatts of data center capacity by 2034 in partnership with global tech leaders like Nvidia, AMD, Amazon Web Services, Qualcomm, and Cisco. A $3 billion deal with Blackstone has been signed to develop large-scale data centers nationwide, leveraging Saudi Arabia's cheap and abundant energy supply to power these energy-intensive AI facilities, giving the kingdom a significant competitive edge. Humain has also launched an AI-powered operating system, Humain One, which is already improving internal operations across HR, finance, legal, and IT departments. Alongside these efforts, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a regional AI hub, attracting international tech giants and aiming to export digital computing power globally, with ambitious projects like the $5 billion Datavolt data center on the Red Sea coast and the Neom smart city initiative. These developments are part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 strategy to diversify its economy beyond oil and establish itself as a leader in AI and digital infrastructure.