Saudi Arabia has embarked on a transformative journey to establish itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) with the launch of “Humain”, a state-backed AI company under the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Announced days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May 2025, Humain represents a cornerstone of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification plan.
With a focus on developing advanced AI infrastructure, localized Arabic language models, and cross-sector AI solutions, Humain aims to position Saudi Arabia at the forefront of the global AI landscape.
Backed by PIF’s $941 billion valuation and strategic international partnerships, this initiative underscores the kingdom’s ambition to reduce oil dependency, foster technological innovation, and leverage geopolitical alliances to secure access to critical AI resources [1].
Humain’s establishment is inextricably linked to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a blueprint for reducing reliance on oil by cultivating sectors like technology, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing. AI has been identified as a critical driver of this transformation, with projections suggesting it could contribute $135 billion a 12% to the kingdom’s GDP by 2030 [2][3].
By centralizing AI development under PIF, Humain will streamline investments in data centers, cloud infrastructure, and AI research, ensuring alignment with national economic priorities. The company’s mandate includes deploying AI solutions across energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services sectors pivotal to Vision 2030’s success.
A key pillar of Humain’s strategy is the creation of a multimodal Arabic large language model (LLM), designed to address the underrepresentation of Arabic in global AI systems. This LLM will not only enhance digital services for Saudi citizens but also serve as a regional tool for Middle Eastern nations, bridging linguistic and cultural gaps in AI applications[4].
By prioritizing Arabic-language AI, Humain aims to solidify Saudi Arabia’s role as a hub for technological innovation tailored to the Arab world, while reducing dependence on Western-developed models.
Humain’s plans include constructing next-generation data centers and AI-optimized cloud platforms, with the Saudi data center market projected to grow from $1.33 billion in 2024 to $3.9 billion by 2030[5]. Partnerships with firms like Aramco Digital will see the development of the world’s largest AI inference data center, enhancing the kingdom’s capacity to process complex AI workloads domestically[6].
This infrastructure push is critical for achieving technological sovereignty, ensuring that Saudi Arabia retains control over data governance and AI development amid global competition.
President Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May 2025 provided a strategic backdrop for Humain’s launch, highlighting the convergence of Saudi AI ambitions and U.S. geopolitical interests. The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to relax Biden-era restrictions on AI chip exports to the Gulf[7], a policy shift that could accelerate Humain’s access to advanced semiconductors.
During the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, attended by tech leaders like Elon Musk and Sam Altman, discussions focused on securing U.S. chip supplies to two government-connected firms in the Middle East.
The Trump administration aims to authorize the sale of hundreds of thousands of artificial intelligence chips to two government-connected firms in the Middle East, while Saudi Arabia is poised to elevate US AI infrastructure[8].
The U.S. recalibration of chip export policies reflects broader concerns about China’s growing influence in Middle Eastern AI ecosystems. Humain’s launch serves as a counterweight to Chinese tech investments in the region, with Saudi Arabia positioning itself as a stable partner for Western firms seeking to expand in the Gulf[9].
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and AI strategy push it to work with both U.S. and Chinese partners. In recent months, Riyadh has courted American tech: for example, HUMAIN immediately announced a strategic partnership with Nvidia (U.S.) to build “AI factories” powered by hundreds of thousands of GPUs, and U.S. firms like Salesforce ($500 million investment) and Amazon’s Scale AI are establishing local operations. The PIF has even backed U.S. startups (e.g. Groq’s AI chips, Magic Leap’s AR devices) to localize critical tech.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia engages China: Huawei opened a cloud data center in Riyadh for government AI and Arabic-language models, and Alibaba Cloud has deals to build smart-city infrastructure. PIF’s Prosperity7 fund has invested in Chinese AI start-ups (e.g. $400 M in Zhipu AI, a ChatGPT rival).
The launch of Humain marks a pivotal moment in Saudi Arabia’s quest to become a global AI powerhouse. By combining strategic state investment, international partnerships, and a focus on Arabic-language AI, the kingdom is laying the groundwork for a post-oil economy. However, realizing this vision will require navigating complex geopolitical dynamics and technological dependencies.
As President Trump’s visit underscores, Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions are deeply intertwined with global power struggles over semiconductor access and AI supremacy. Humain’s success will depend not only on its technical achievements but also on its ability to balance national priorities with the demands of an increasingly multipolar world order.
[1] HRH Crown Prince launches HUMAIN as global AI powerhouse, PIF, May 2025.
[2] Saudi Arabia sets 12% target for AI’s contribution to GDP, Arabian Gulf Business Insight, Sep 2024.
[3] AI as the engine of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. Arab News, Apr 2025.
[4] HUMAIN: Saudi Arabia’s bold bet on sovereign AI and Arabic LLMs, CIO, May 2025.
[6] Aramco Digital, Groq Partner to Build World's Largest AI Inferencing Data Center, Groq.
[8] Saudi Arabia poised to elevate US AI infrastructure, Alat CEO says, Arab News, June 2024.