Why the Middle East is a hub for AI investment

The Middle East is fast becoming not just a deep-pocketed investor in AI but a hot spot for data centers, highlighted by a new wave of Saudi deals. Tech companies used the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum and the D.C. visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to announce a host of new projects with Humain—a Saudi AI and infrastructure developer backed by the country's Public Investment Fund. The region's significant energy capacity is a huge draw for U.S. companies looking to rapidly build out AI infrastructure. 

• xAI: Elon Musk's company has signed a "framework agreement" to build low-cost GPU data centers with Humain in Saudi Arabia and deploy Grok models throughout the country.
• AMD and Cisco: Humain is working jointly with AMD and Cisco to deliver up to 1 gigawatt of AI infrastructure by 2030.
• Nvidia: Humain will deploy up to 600,000 Nvidia GPUs across Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over three years, including work focused on physical AI as well as Arabic language AI.
• Qualcomm: The chip maker is making a renewed push for a role in data centers, and its work with Humain is a key piece. Qualcomm said it will create an AI engineering center with Humain in Riyadh as part of a broader partnership to deploy 200 megawatts of data center capacity.
• Amazon Web Services: Humain and AWS will deploy up to 150,000 AI accelerators for an "AI Zone" in Riyadh.
• Adobe: Humain is working with Adobe to create culturally aware AI models, particularly for Arabic speakers, making use of Qualcomm's data center products.

The region's significant energy capacity is a huge draw for U.S. companies looking to rapidly build out AI infrastructure.