Saudi Arabia Launches $10 Billion AI Fund to Lead Middle East Tech Race

Saudi Arabia is launching a daring effort to lead AI in the Middle East with the formation of a $10 billion venture capital fund and a large $77 billion investment in infrastructure. Humain, a firm launched by the government, is leading the effort which is part of the kingdom’s plan to reduce its dependence on oil.

Humain Ventures plans to invest in AI startups in the U.S., Europe and Asia beginning this summer, according to the Financial Times. With Prince Mohammed bin Salman at its helm, the company is discussing equity and technology plans with OpenAI, xAI (Elon Musk), Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm.

The company’s aim is to have 6.6 gigawatts of capacity for AI data centers by 2034, expected to handle 7% of worldwide AI workloads by 2030. The project’s first part has a 50MW data center equipped with 18,000 Nvidia GPUs and more phases would require up to 180,000 chips.

The first one to reach the top will own a big part of the market, says Tareq Amin, who pointed out that Humain is moving swiftly.

Among its major deals so far, Saudi Arabia’s Humain includes a $5 billion project in AI with Amazon Web Services. Saudi Arabia’s government will also receive aid through an AI marketplace built on AWS.

Meanwhile, the company is partnering with AMD on a $10 billion joint venture and with Qualcomm on a $2 billion chip design project. The agreement with Qualcomm includes setting up a chip design center in Riyadh, where 500 engineers will work.

Since it is subsidizing electricity, fostering close U.S. ties and enjoying political support, Saudi Arabia is quickly making progress with AI and could soon challenge leading countries.