Key Takeaways
- Saudi Arabia announces multi-billion dollar AI partnerships with US tech giants including xAI, AWS, and Nvidia
- Elon Musk’s xAI to build its first major overseas data center (500MW) in Saudi Arabia
- Saudi investment in US increases from $600B to $1 trillion during Crown Prince’s visit
- Part of Saudi Arabia’s strategic shift from oil to AI-driven economy
Saudi Arabia is forging massive AI partnerships with American technology leaders, announcing joint ventures worth billions during Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s first US visit in years. The agreements position Saudi Arabia as a crucial partner for US AI expansion, offering funding, space, and cheap energy.
Major AI Partnerships Announced
Humain, an AI company backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, revealed partnerships with xAI, Cisco, AMD and Qualcomm at a US-Saudi investment forum in Washington. The collaborations represent Saudi Arabia’s push to diversify from oil and strengthen US ties.
Elon Musk announced that xAI will develop a 500-megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia alongside Humain. This marks xAI’s first large-scale center outside the United States and will deploy the Grok chatbot throughout Saudi Arabia.
“The future of intelligence will be engineered through massive and efficient compute combined with the most advanced AI models,” Musk said in a statement on Wednesday.
Nvidia-Powered Infrastructure Expansion
The xAI data center will use Nvidia chips, with founder Jensen Huang participating in Wednesday’s panel alongside Musk and Saudi Minister Abdullah Alswaha.
“This is how we walk the talk in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in partnership with the US,” Alswaha said. “Yesterday, the president and his royal highness announced the AI strategic framework and partnership. Today we’re going big with Elon and Jensen, so thank you for those opportunities.”
Alswaha also announced a 100-megawatt AWS data center “with a gigawatt ambition” powered by Nvidia infrastructure. Amazon Web Services plans to deploy up to 150,000 AI accelerators in Riyadh.
Strategic Importance for AI Expansion
Saudi Arabia addresses three critical needs for AI companies: substantial funding, available space, and affordable energy. As AI firms face energy constraints in the US and competition from China, Saudi Arabia offers an attractive alternative for powering massive data centers.
Geopolitical Context and Investment Scale
The partnerships coincide with Crown Prince bin Salman’s efforts to improve his international standing following the Jamal Khashoggi incident. During his Oval Office visit, the Prince announced increased US investment from $600 billion to $1 trillion.
“You’re saying to me now that the $600 billion will be $1 trillion?” Trump said to Prince bin Salman in the Oval Office. “Good. I like that very much.”
Bloomberg reported that the US is preparing to approve advanced AI chip sales to Humain, further cementing the technology partnership between the two nations.
