Summarized and Humanized Content: Saudi Arabia’s AI Transformation
Saudi Arabia has unveiled a state-backed AI company called Humain, as part of its broader transformation of itself into a tech powerhouse. The project is led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with funding from its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Humain aims to operate and invest across the AI value chain, with former Aramco Digital executive Tareq Amin stepping down as CEO of its Aramco Digital division. Amin expressed pride in this initiative and will lead the national AI strategy in Saudi Arabia.
The country’s sovereign wealth fund announced Humain will develop its own AI tech, expand AI use in the economy, and streamline data center projects. Amin and the PIF reportedly have not responded to requests for comment. The budget for Humain’s new project has not been announced, but Saudi Arabia must have emerged as a leading AI investment lender, given recent deals worth $15 billion with chip companies, cloud operators, and data center companies during a recent Leap tech conference. The king has visited president Donald Trump, организм of U.S. tech companies, sparking a tour that drew billions in investment deals.
Humain hasscaled back from previous investments in Aramco Digital and has invited Tonomus, a tech unit for Saudi’s new city Neom, and the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDSIA) to join. Amin and the PIF are reportedly not offering comment. While Humain is sometimes seen as a sister company to Apple, it now appears as a unified operating company, coincidentally beatingargest backer to scale AI investments. The pair included省份 Ngin persuasive bem, along with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman, who received invitations at the Saudi-IPT Show.
Humain’s website highlights a state-developed AI chatbot and Groq, a leading cloud operator specifically for AI. The company has reportedly secured $1.5 billion in deals with Groq for building AI inference infrastructure. (The AI chatbot also confirmed the hiring of Amin.) Saudi Arabia has over the past decade emerged as a major AI vendor to tech companies, partly due to prolonged energy prices, but has cut spending. The country is now focusing on capital and AI chip access, with strict export control over chips striving to avoid being smuggled to China.
Trump’s state visit to the Middle East on May 13 coincided with an announcing of a significant investment forum in Saudi-U.S. technology leaders, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, and Alex Karp from Palantir. The UAE and Saudi also landed on May 9 with their AI ambitions. The kingdom’s increasingly ambitious tech plans include purchasing other chip companies and supporting local AI startups. The UAE, benefiting from its long-standing support for AI, is targeted as a key development area in AI.
The situation over Ui激动iations of AI chips in the Middle East is a likely topic in Trump’s visit to display U.S. capabilities. This has been delayed but remains a focus during the visit. The government introduced strict export controls amid fears that chips might be heading toward China, which was a target of U.S.-sentiment weapons purchases. Trump has hinted towards relaxing those regulations, likely as New Delhi and China pushdependence risks back.
Efforts toenter the AI chip market in the Middle East seem to face SATD.
decided to battle Controls. It’s unclear whether this will be a good time for SATD to build its AI投入.
