Saudi Arabia’s new artificial intelligence entity, HUMAIN, is making an assertive entrance onto the global AI stage, partnering with U.S. chip giants NVIDIA and reportedly Groq. The strategic move, central to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, aims to construct “AI factories of the future” and establish Saudi Arabia as a significant AI development hub. The initiative underscores a major investment in sovereign AI capabilities, facilitated by a more permissive U.S. stance on advanced technology exports to the region.
Launched on May 12 and backed by the nation’s Public Investment Fund, HUMAIN is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The company will spearhead Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions, focusing on services, data centers, cloud infrastructure, and the creation of an Arabic large language model.
This development signals the Kingdom’s intent to not only diversify its economy but also to become a key player in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, impacting global innovation and technology deployment.
The collaboration with NVIDIA, a frontrunner in AI computing, forms a critical part of HUMAIN’s infrastructure plan. Further diversifying its approach, HUMAIN has also reportedly selected U.S. chipmaker Groq for its AI inference tasks, indicating a sophisticated strategy to leverage different technological strengths for various AI workloads.
Building Next-Generation AI Infrastructure
HUMAIN’s partnership with NVIDIA involves a substantial investment in building AI factories across Saudi Arabia, targeting a capacity of up to 500 megawatts, according to an NVIDIA Newsroom announcement.
These facilities will house hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA’s most advanced GPUs over the next five years. An initial deployment will feature an 18,000 NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell AI supercomputer, bolstered by NVIDIA InfiniBand networking, designed to handle massive AI training and deployment tasks.
NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, highlighted that such AI infrastructure is as “essential infrastructure for every nation” as electricity and the internet, and that their collaboration aims to help Saudi Arabia “realize the bold vision of the Kingdom.”
These hyperscale data centers will provide the foundation for training and deploying sovereign AI models. Beyond core processing, HUMAIN will deploy the NVIDIA Omniverse platform, as detailed by NVIDIA, to accelerate physical AI and robotics.
This involves creating integrated digital twins for industries like manufacturing, logistics, and energy, thereby advancing Saudi Arabia’s Industry 4.0 objectives. Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN, characterized the NVIDIA alliance as a “bold step forward” for the Kingdom’s AI and digital infrastructure goals, aiming to build “capacity, capability and a new globally enabled community.”
Echoing this sentiment, Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah Alswaha, stated the collaboration “marks a turning point” and lays “the groundwork for a new industrial revolution.”
A significant, yet less emphasized component of the NVIDIA partnership, involves large-scale upskilling and training programs for Saudi citizens, crucial for fostering a domestic AI talent pool.
A Diversified Approach to AI Hardware
Complementing the NVIDIA deal, HUMAIN is engaging Groq, a company known for its alternative to GPU-based systems that claims faster AI inference, Semafor reports. This selection, attributed by Semafor to “two people with knowledge of the matter,” suggests HUMAIN is strategically choosing specialized hardware for different stages of the AI pipeline—NVIDIA for training and Groq for the rapid processing of trained model responses.
The U.S. administration under President Trump has been considering large-scale sales of advanced AI chips to Gulf nations. This includes an anticipated agreement to supply HUMAIN with tens of thousands of semiconductors and technology support from both NVIDIA and, significantly, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
The potential involvement of AMD points to an even broader multi-vendor strategy for HUMAIN. This demand for high-performance chips is underscored by Saudi Arabia’s reported plans for a $5 billion, 1.5-gigawatt AI processing server farm, noted by Globes English and referenced by Winbuzzer.
Evolving Export Policies and Industry Dialogue
The ability of HUMAIN to secure these advanced U.S. chips is significantly influenced by the Trump administration’s move to overhaul Biden-era AI chip export regulations.
The administration plans to rescind the ‘AI diffusion rule,’ a decision reportedly influenced by nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. A Commerce Department spokesperson criticized the previous rule for being “overly complex, overly bureaucratic, and would stymie American innovation,” adding that they will be replacing it with a “much simpler rule that unleashes American innovation and ensures American AI dominance.”
This policy shift occurs amidst a vibrant industry debate on AI chip export controls. AI developer Anthropic, for instance, has advocated for stricter controls, citing national security concerns and alleging sophisticated smuggling methods, including the use of “prosthetic baby bumps” and items “packed alongside live lobsters.”
Conversely, NVIDIA has argued against expanding restrictions, saying that given China has “half of the world’s AI researchers” and “highly capable AI experts at every layer of the AI stack,” it means “America cannot manipulate regulators to capture victory in AI,” especially considering China’s extensive AI talent pool.
Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman also described the Biden AI diffusion rule as “bad policy.” This dynamic regulatory and industry environment forms the backdrop for Saudi Arabia’s ambitious AI initiatives.
