Saudi Arabia-backed artificial intelligence company Humain has appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on a financing package for building data centres within the kingdom. Sources familiar with the matter indicate the package could be worth at least 20 billion riyals ($5.33 billion) as Humain accelerates its expansion amid a national push into artificial intelligence. Humain is an artificial intelligence company supported by Saudi Arabia, focused on developing data centres and AI infrastructure crucial for advanced computing. This strategic move highlights Saudi Arabia’s ambition to capitalise on the global surge in demand for computing power.
The kingdom, like its Gulf neighbours Qatar and the UAE, is rapidly advancing its AI build-out, leveraging its substantial energy resources. Cheap energy serves as a powerful incentive for hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta, which are significant drivers of AI adoption globally. Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading oil exporter, is actively diversifying its economy away from hydrocarbon revenues, investing tens of billions of dollars into infrastructure, tourism, technology, and specifically artificial intelligence.
Humain engaged Goldman Sachs to fund data centres and GPU chips, aiming for 2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in the Riyadh area, about a third of its 2034 target. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns Humain and leads Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification, recently retooled its strategy, adjusting some “giga-project” investments. Humain, established last year, has already secured agreements with xAI and Blackstone-backed AirTrunk for data centre projects and is partnering with AWS for a new “AI zone.” This comes as the International Energy Agency estimates global data centre investments could hit $3.9 trillion between 2026 and 2030, highlighting the need for significant external financing beyond AI companies’ balance sheets.
